


After Ragnarök

by HuuskerDu



Series: Ah! My Goddess! - Ragnarök [2]
Category: ef - a fairy tale of the two., ああっ女神さまっ | Ah! Megami-sama! | Oh My Goddess!
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Future, Arranged Marriage, Character Death Fix, Childhood Trauma, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Drug Withdrawal, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Issues, Far Future, Forced Relationship, Heaven, Hell, Long-Term Relationship(s), Married Couple, Multiple Crossovers, Newborn Children, Not Really Character Death, Philosophy, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 40
Words: 188,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2335427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuuskerDu/pseuds/HuuskerDu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ragnarök has happened. All of the first class goddesses and demons in both Valhalla and Niflheim are now gone. The strongest surviving goddess, Skuld, is now the Leader of Heaven.  No longer a petulant child, she is tall and beautiful. She wields terrifying power and has a temper to match.</p><p>Skuld knows that she must rein in her bad temper and lead with wisdom in her new role, to save what remains of her people, and to rebuild her devastated kingdom and defend it against the clutches of Hell. And so for guidance in her new position she calls upon the wisest person she knows: Keiichi Morisato.  Skuld desperately needs his wisdom, but Belldandy's death has utterly broken him.  Can she save him? And can he save her?</p><p>This story is Part 2 of the Ragnarök series. It can be read as a standalone tale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reluctant Ruler of Heaven

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own Aa! Megami-sama! This is a work of fan fiction.**

* * *

**A/N:**

This story is a sequel to _The Fifth Kind of Love_. To find it, click on my handle above (HuuskerDu). You can read this story as a standalone tale if you wish.

You will need to read _The Fifth Kind of Love_ to learn the backstory of the momentous events that triggered Ragnarök, including the fate of Skuld's sisters and how the young goddess was adopted by a new and loving mother.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Reluctant Ruler of Heaven**

Skuld threw down the Yggdrasil Mark II schematics in disgust. "No, no, no! This is not going to work! The capacitors will never support that much load!"

Ere and Ex then cautiously took several steps backward away from the planning table, and from her. They knew how dangerous the Leader of Heaven could be when she lost her temper.

She continued to rant, "And the power plant is wrong... it will never drive that much data traffic! This is hopeless, we are going have to all start over again... gah! I am so sick of this!" She then ripped up the blueprints and shouted several expletives at the ceiling.

"I quit!" She kicked the table. The two second class sysadmins dived for cover as the shrapnel from the exploded table embedded itself into the Adamite crystal walls of the planning room.

Skuld tended to lose her temper quite often these days. Even more so than usual. The sysadmins couldn't really blame her. Ragnarök had traumatized nearly every remaining living soul in Heaven*. And those who survived that awful event, the second class and third class goddesses, all had varying levels of survivors' guilt, PTSD, and many other psychological symptoms of surviving a holocaust. Skuld was no different.

Indeed, Skuld had gotten the worst of it, as bad as any survivor. For she had lost every person she loved: Belldandy, Urd, her mother, everyone that was important to her.

Except one. And he was only a mere mortal.

The two sysadmins poked their heads up from behind the desk. Then Ex said to Ere, "Sheesh, she's in a particularly foul mood today."

Ere replied, "Yeah, and that's really saying something. I mean, her usual self is bad enough."

Skuld spotted them, then stomped over and lorded over their cowering figures, "You two get your asses off the ground and clean this place up! We resume planning in 20 minutes! We are starting over with a new schematic!"

They saluted her, "Aye, aye, ma'am..."

Skuld stomped out.

Ex sighed, "Well, she has a right to be grumpy, I mean, considering what she went through." Ere nodded sympathetically.

Skuld walked alone to the rooftop of the temporary HQ building. She needed a few minutes alone to decompress. The HQ was actually an old supply depot that had somehow survived the war mostly intact. It had miraculously escaped being strafed, bombed, melted, frozen, electrocuted, disintegrated, dissolved, exploded, imploded, inverted, eviscerated, or detonated by the all-out demon attack during Ragnarök.

From the railing of the rooftop balcony, Skuld looked over her sovereign domain.

For Asgard was in utter ruin.

Desolation was everywhere. Some columns of smoke continued to float lazily into the sky even now, four months after the end of the battle.

It had all happened when Hild, the ruler of Niflheim, launched her most ambitious (and ultimately final) plan to overthrow Valhalla once and for all. Hild had deliberately kicked off Ragnarök, even though she knew that all first class goddesses and demons, including herself, would die in that holocaust.

Her plan was simple: She arranged for her own 'death' just prior to the event, then she hid her spirit inside the mind of her own daughter, Urd, the half-goddess half-demon who had the potential power of a first class goddess. Urd had previously refused to become a first class goddess, so she remained second class and thus would survive. And so Hild's plan was to ride out the storm of Ragnarök by hiding within Urd's mind, and then after the smoke had cleared, Hild!Urd would re-emerge, catapult back up to first class status (or higher), and then become the most powerful entity still alive. And so, after it was all over, and before anyone else could recover, Hild!Urd would quickly overthrow Heaven, and rule it from Hell.

For that was Hild's plan. But her plan was foiled by Belldandy, who sacrificed her own life to stop her. Then afterwards, even after her own death, Belldandy's spirit lived on long enough to end Hild's own spirit, once and for all. Urd had fought back as well, having bought enough time for Belldandy to formulate a plan to counter Hild's. And so, at the cost of the lives of both of Skuld's sisters, all of Heaven and the world were saved.

And so Belldandy became the hero of the age. Songs would be sung of her heroism and her selfless sacrifice to save Heaven and the world from the clutches of Hell. And Skuld was proud to be named as the sister of the great Belldandy, the most famous goddess in the history of Heaven.

But as history tends to do, the roles of others were overlooked. This included the critical role of Skuld's adopted mother, the combat Valkyrie, in the defeat of Hild and Urd's own sacrifice to buy time to make that defeat possible, both of which for some reason faded from the collective memory of history. Skuld herself would never forget, of course, for she would mourn for her loving adopted mother just as she did for her beloved older sisters. This was because Skuld had paid the highest price of any surviving goddess in this costly victory: the loss of her entire family.

After the battle Belldandy had comforted her grieving sister in a dream. She revealed she was still very much alive, all of them, and that they loved the immature goddess very much, and that they would all reunite with her one day. Belldandy consoled her sister and encouraged her to stay strong. She revealed to the young goddess her great future, that she would save all of Asgard and lead it to recovery. Skuld confessed during their teary reunion that she felt overwhelmed, that she couldn't do it, certainly not by herself. But Belldandy reassured her and told her she would, and that she would have help.

Skuld sighed. That task was immense.

The battle that precipitated it was dreadful. She could still see the radioactive glow from the former Yggdrasil complex on the far western horizon. The glow was so intense it could be seen in daylight. To the southwest, all of the great palace of Valhalla was turned to glass, or worse. And if it wasn't for Skuld's quick thinking during the height of the battle, when she remembered the collection of old weapons and artifacts on display at the Museum of Really Cool Stuff, located 10,000km east and 200km up from Valhalla, and the parked V'ger spacecraft on display there, all might have been lost. But Skuld was able to re-animate the dead god sufficiently to tele-operate the main functors and bring V'ger back to life one last time.

And ram it straight into the Great Maw of Hell. The Monster Wolf. Fenrir.

And the Great Maw got indigestion when it tried to eat the 100km long living space vessel that was also a god, and so Skuld was able to stop the fearsome monster, the strongest combatant on the side of Hell. And it fled the field of battle while howling in deep pain.

And then she went on the offensive: She was able to repair the eight superlaser generators that she had previously salvaged from the Death Star - a war trophy courtesy of her adoptive mother - and bury the devices in a large circle around the grounds and woods surrounding the Tariki Hongan temple. She then connected it to a unique power source and fired the Death Star's strongest weapon straight up through the open Japan Gate and into the very heart of Hell, and incinerate much of its center, in retribution for the carnage they dealt to her heavenly home.

Now, it was not due to those great heroic acts that earned Skuld the title of Acting Daitenkaicho of Asgard. Nor was it due to her famous engineering skills, which she used in good measure to salvage key components of critical systems, to prevent cascade failures and implosions that could have resulted in even further loss of life. Nor was it her foresight to quickly move the Deep Archives to a new hidden location when the attack was imminent, thus protecting and preserving the most important and ancient wisdom, artifacts, and stored knowledge of the gods and goddesses themselves, which had been slowly and painstakingly accumulated since the Elder Days, and so it was saved.

She was named the Acting Daitenkaicho simply due to her seniority. It was merely because she was the highest ranking second class goddess left alive.

For goddesses of the same class, the tie breaker for seniority is based on the goddess' current active role or duty function. Skuld, being a multi-tasker, was the new Air Marshal of the combat Valkyrie squad known as the Fighting Wings, having been field-promoted by acting Air Marshal Chrono after the latter was injured during the battle. Skuld also held the rank of System Administrator Second Class for the Yggdrasil supercomputer facility. And she had the rank of Goddess Ambassador Third Class, the minimum rank required to live on Earth.

And so, with those three combined ranks, she had the highest seniority of anyone left alive in Asgard. And thus Skuld became its leader, basically by default.

And she didn't like it one bit.

She gazed upon the ruin of Heaven. There was so much work to do. It seemed overwhelming.

As the wind blew across the rooftop, she ran her fingers through her long hair. Then, looking down at a puddle on the roof she saw her reflection in the water.

Well, it wasn't all bad then.

For in that shimmering mirror she saw her image, and her beauty was marvelous to behold: She was tall, graceful, and regal in her splendor, with her long raven hair blowing in the wind. She was the ideal vision of a true goddess.

Her only disappointment was that her grown-up bust size wasn't quite as developed as Urd's. Chrono had explained to Skuld that it was because she had a slender body type, which was more like Belldandy's than her more curvaceous half-sister Urd. She was lithe and very beautiful in her own way, and some even said she looked more beautiful than Urd had herself been, in a fashion. Chrono told her frankly that having an oversized bustline would not have looked attractive on her figure. Chrono was correct, of course, but Skuld still felt a little bit disappointed with her tape measurements.

Skuld remembered that the change in her body had started to happen almost immediately. She could _feel_ her body growing one or two inches a day. Up and out. And so she quickly became a mature, tall, and beautiful vision of a goddess.

No, that wasn't so bad. After all, she was a grown-up now. And everyone treated her like one.

And that was also her biggest worry. In some ways she did not feel like she was an adult. To her it felt like she was pretending, play-acting the role. She was an adult on the outside, but not on the inside. Soon perhaps, but not quite yet. Oh, in some ways she was already quite grown up on the inside, for she had already seen things that no child should ever see: a holocaust of destruction, injury, weeping, pain, suffering, and death. She had seen far too much death, too much even if spread across the near immortal lifetime of a goddess. For the death toll of Ragnarök was appalling. And in dealing with loss and grief, she had already grown up far too fast.

No, her biggest concern was that she felt that she was not quite ready yet to assume her title: Acting Daitenkaicho. It was a political role, not one she would normally want for herself. In her heart she was a tinkerer, a warrior, a builder, a fighter, a creator of things, and a combat engineer, not a politician. She felt that she did not have the necessary real-world experience to know how to rule a kingdom.

She knew that she was not yet very good at the subtle art of using and applying power: How to placate rival factions, or how to calm disputes, or know when to show mercy, or know when to punish, or know when to fight, or know when to sue for peace. She felt that she simply did not have the experience for the role that was thrust upon her. In particular, she knew that her bad temper and impatience would be liabilities.

What she really wanted was someone she could trust implicitly to act as her consigliere and advisor. Someone who understood her. Someone who knew her strengths and her weaknesses. Someone who was very observant and a good listener. Someone who was not afraid to speak up and challenge her. Someone who could put up with her bad temper and not be cowed by it. Someone who was honest and forthright. Someone who would not lust after her due to her title or her power. Someone who had wide experience in dealing with a variety of first class goddesses and demons. Someone who she loved.

Keiichi Morisato.

It had to be him. And Skuld needed him now more than ever.

She left the roof and went back inside.

"Ere, I am leaving Asgard for a short visit to Earth. I might be gone for a couple days. I'm putting you in charge of re-doing the schematics."

Ere bowed, but then said, "Ma'am, with respect, we really need you right now."

Ex piped up, "The rules say that the Daitenkaicho must never leave Heaven. You must stay here."

Skuld exploded at Ex, "For the last time I am only the *Acting* Daitenkaicho! Therefore the rules do not apply to me, see? Look, the Daitenkaicho must have a spouse, right? Am I married? Nope! That's in the rules too. Like I said, the rules don't apply to me because I'm just a temp! Sheesh, how many times do I have to explain it?"

"Yes, ma'am.."

"I'm outta here. I'll be back in a couple days I think. Carry on." Skuld grumbled and went back to the roof.

She made a quick stop at the Fighting Wings bivouac to check on the status of the remaining combat Valkyries. It was as good as could be expected, since only 5 of the original 80 had survived the war, not including herself. She told Chrono to continue her work on recruiting. But they both knew it would be a long time before the Fighting Wings were an effective force again. Sigh.

Then she flew up to the Gate.

"Keiichi," she thought to herself, "I need you so badly right now."

She knew that Keiichi was now living alone. However, what Skuld did not know yet was just how deep was the spiritual abyss that Keiichi Morisato had fallen into since the loss of Belldandy and of his wife, or what it would take to save him.

But soon she would.

* * *

**A/R:**

* In this story, unless indicated otherwise, the term 'Heaven' refers to the realm of Asgard, which is assumed to be a real place located in the physical world. The film _Thor_ (2011) makes the same assumption. Similarly, the term 'Hell' in this story colloquially refers to the physical realm of Niflheim.


	2. The Demolished Man

**Chapter 2: The Demolished Man**

Skuld flew up to the main Valhalla gate. It was a roundish portal gilded by complex cosmic symbols. "Hello! Gate! This is Skuld. Please connect to the Japan gate and dilate for me?"

Skuld waited. The gate remained closed.

She waited some more.

"C'mon! Open up already!"

The gate transformed into its humanoid form: a cute little blond girl wearing a ridiculously oversized black robe like a tent. "I'm sorry, Skuld. I am rather new at this. I think I misdialed the destination gate coordinates. Let me try again."

Skuld did a facepalm while floating. After the battle ended, restoring the primary gates and their interconnects was one of Skuld's earliest and highest priorities. She went to work on it immediately after she finished doing medical triage and emergency transport of the wounded survivors, many of them critical.

Regrettably there were few survivors left alive to transport, so it did not take her long to ferry them all to receive medical attention. Doctor Nie had also survived, and his heroic medical efforts had saved all of the casualties that were able to reach him in time.

Next, Skuld went to the proctors and she ordered them to decant five new gates. She technically had no official authority to ask them that, not yet anyway, but those strange beings must have sensed her future role and they obeyed her without question.

Skuld made a small grin as she watched the poor gate flounder around. It reminded her of herself when she was but a child. And because of that mental image of herself, she took pity on the gate. She said, "It's okay. Take your time. Learn how to do it. Takes practice, I bet."

"Thank you.. Yes. I am sorry. Reconnecting."

"No sweat. Say, why don't you keep practicing? Start practicing all the different interconnects with the other gates. That way in the future if you need to make a fast emergency connection, you know you can can do it. All of you should do that."

"Skuld, that is a great idea! Thanks! I'll communicate that to the other gates. We'll all start practicing together."

"Great! You know, you're all doing really well. So.. keep up the good work!" She hoped her words of encouragement sounded sincere.

The young gate replied, "Wow, Skuld, coming from you that means a lot, thank you! Connected. Ah, there we go. Dilating."

Skuld maintained her cheery composure. "That's wonderful! Thank you, gate."

"Have safe travels!"

"I will. Thanks. You take care now. Bye!"

Skuld continued to show a benevolent smile to the gate as she went through the portal. The smile disappeared as soon as the gate closed behind her. She was grateful that she had learned enough self-control to prevent her temper from exploding while talking to the malfunctioning gate. There was no point in reprimanding the young inexperienced gate for a rookie mistake. She knew how difficult it was for her to give positive soothing encouragement to her subordinates, something that would be second nature for someone like Belldandy or Keiichi.

While flying through the living bowels of the gate tunnel, she had some time alone to think.

The gates all seemed to be working as best as can be expected, but Skuld was still worried about security protocols, or rather the lack thereof. In the past a demon would sometimes go disguised as a goddess and attempt to gain entry into Asgard that way. The gates still needed programming for friend-versus-foe identification. But that won't start working until Yggdrasil Mark II was online.

And then there were all the other tasks: the reconstruction of Valhalla, the design of the new defensive systems and security structures, the reassignment of duties and promotions to the surviving goddesses, the long-term strategic planning, ... the list seemed endless. Ugh, there was so much work to do!

She knew that her highest post-war priority was the negotiation of a new peace treaty. That had to be done as soon as possible. But she was not a good diplomat, and she needed a shrewd negotiator when treating with the enemy. She sighed again.

 _Keiichi, I need you so much right now_.

She looked forward to making her plea to Keiichi in person. She had not seem him since before the war.

Skuld wondered about her motives for going on this little excursion herself.

_Why didn't I send someone else to fetch Keiichi? Ere was right, I am needed in Asgard. So much work to do. So why am I going personally on this little joyride? Ex also was right, it is against the rules for me to leave Asgard like this, especially without a Valkyrie escort for security. Eh, don't need an escort, I'm a Valkyrie myself, and a pretty good one. I kicked ass. I can protect myself._

_So why am I doing this? I really do need Keiichi's help. No question about it. Or do I have an ulterior motive for this trip?_

_Admit it, you still love him. No, wait. That's not true. It was just a crush. Just a young girl's secret crush on a grown-up that was living under her roof. Happens all the time. It's no big deal. And now? I don't feel that way anymore. I literally don't have time for it. I have a duty. This is just business. Remember that._

_Yeah, I admit it. Back then, whenever Keiichi got even remotely close to Big Sis, I would go ballistic. I was totally obsessed with keeping them apart. Was it because I was.. actually jealous of Belldandy? Naw. Ok, maybe I did have a secret crush on him. I was just a kid. I'd throw bombs at the poor guy. That was so juvenile, so stupid. I mean, I didn't know about his half-elemental protection against broken bones or fatalities. For all I knew I could have killed him. Was I that pathetic? Did he think of me that way? Pathetic? And what about now?_

_I don't have the luxury of indulging in those childish feelings anymore. And if he sees me now? If he sees my brand new smokin' hot babalicous supermodel body? Then I will tell him to cool his jets, you pervert. He can look but he can't touch. Heh._

_I know that Keiichi doesn't have to help me. He has his own life now. I am going to his home myself, personally, as the Daitenkaicho, to emphasize the importance of the request, to make it personally to him, face to face. This is just business._

_Hmm.. what if he demands a price. What if that price is.. little old me? Oh c'mon, enough fantasies silly girl. This is Keiichi we are talking about. Mr. Goody Goody Two Shoes himself. And besides, my request for help will be deadly serious. I'll describe to him the awfulness of what happened, the whole ugly thing. Like how.. how Peorth died.. I don't want to think about that. But I will tell him. I won't hold anything back. And I will let him know why I need him so badly. And I'll go down on my knees if necessary, to beg him for help. I don't care if it diminishes the office or whatever._

_Like I care about pomp and circumstance, honor and all that crap. I'm pretty much ego-less that way. Probably a good thing. People in a position of power shouldn't want it for power's sake. Yeah, to him I'm just Skuld, his former step-daughter. I'll just ask him, as a favor to his step-daughter. And he's Keiichi. The lovable squish. He's a pushover. Of course he'll agree to help, even insist on it. He'll grab his stuff and go. This is no big deal. So why am I so nervous?_

She flew on.

The exit dilated and she flew out at 100km altitude directly above the Tariki Hongan temple. She flew straight down.

As she descended, she took the opportunity to get an eagle's eye view of the area and do a damage assessment. Hmm, very little damage. It looked like the dismounted AC-130 Spectre 'Spooky' gatling guns must have fired, because she could see the mowed down trees in arcs around them.

Before the battle, she had borrowed four of the 50mm gatling guns from a set of soon-to-be decommissioned AC-130 Spectre 'Spooky' gunships that were parked at a US Air Force base. Nobody would miss 'em, she thought.

This had all happened before. The last time, the built-in GPS homing beacons on the borrowed CVS-65's Phalanx CEWS guns had allowed NCIS agents Anthony Dinozzo and Ziva David to track down the stolen weapons' location: Nekomi Japan. They then went to MTAC and had the NSA task a KH-11 spysat to confirm the guns' exact location, the Tariki Hongan Temple in Nekomi Japan. So they personally flew to Japan to visit the temple to try to retrieve them, after getting permission from Japan's Ministry of the Interior and the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF).

However, agents Dinozzo and David could not retrieve the weapons because the temple had what Agent David said was 'diplomatic immunity' from a very high authority. The highest, actually. So they went home empty handed, with Agent Dinozzo totally disgusted with Ziva and her weird Israeli connections in the Mossad that had contacted their secret counterparts in Japan and the US to explain why they must not touch the temple.

So it had happened again. The Pentagon, of course, was notified immediately. A KH-11 spysat again confirmed the guns' location at that rotten little temple in Nekomi, Japan. The Air Force then contacted NCIS, and it got kicked upstairs to NAVSEC, and eventually up to the Secretary of Defense.

But soon the Secretary of Defense and the entire DoD would be totally distracted by another incident that would happen very soon after, regarding the incredible events that were happening in the Pacific Ocean. Some massive .. something.. had ravaged thousands of square miles of the empty ocean between Hawaii and Japan. It included the largest and most violent typhoon that the Earth had seen in the last 10 million years, along with evidence of multiple detonations, air bursts measured at over 200 megatons, but with no nuclear radiation. Impossible. And no seismic activity was detected under the sea bed. No earthquakes. And yet the resulting tsunamis would again flood Japan's eastern shores, along with much of the rest of the Pacific Rim. The floods would extend even into San Fransisco Bay.

[A/N: The great events described above happened during the battle of Ragnarök. To learn more, please read the prequel to this story entitled _The Fifth Kind of Love_. To find that story click on my handle above (HuuskerDu).]

In the aftermath, the entire US Pacific and Indian Ocean naval fleets would be involved in rescue and humanitarian missions for months afterwards, with the US Air Force sending in most if not all of their C-5 cargo planes on humanitarian missions with shelters and medical supplies. And other countries in the region, including South Korea and India, would also assist. It would be one of the largest humanitarian rescue missions in human history. Fortunately this time the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor would not be in danger of melting down again, as it was safeguarded after the last tsunami, and the remaining good reactors were still offline anyway.

And then, after a secret phone call from the Israeli Prime Minister, the little incident with the gatling guns would be quietly shelved. The file on the incident would be classified Top Secret, Q-Clearance, Compartmented (X-3).

But it would not be forgotten.

* * *

Skuld entered the front gate of the temple.

She looked around. The place was a mess. The lawn was overgrown with weeds, and the garden and the flower beds were untended and dead. Several bags of trash were stacked up just outside the front door of the temple. Apparently raccoons or some other animal had torn open some of the bags and had strewn the contents around. Skuld picked up some of the refuse and looked at it: dirty TV dinner trays, empty packs of cigarettes, and bottles of beer. Lots of bottles. And not just beer.

She knocked on the door. No answer. She saw the door was unlocked and unlatched. She gently pushed it open and peered inside.

Trash was everywhere. She saw two mice scurry away down the hall. She smelled rotting food. The odor was disgusting.

"Hello? Anybody home?"

No answer.

She slowly walked down the hall.

"Hellooo? Keiichi? It's me, Skuld. You here?"

She checked each room as she proceeded down the hallway. Belldandy's room, which was also her mother's former bedroom, appeared to be untouched. Her own old bedroom was messed up a bit, the bed appeared recently slept in, and was unmade. Urd's old lab was also messed up quite a bit.

She checked the common room. It was an absolute mess. It looked like the aftermath of a wild party: Lots of pizza boxes, beer bottles everywhere, several full ash trays, scattered couch cushions on the floor, several blankets and mats thrown around. But nobody was there.

She approached the last room at the far end of the hall, Keiichi's bedroom. She had butterflies in her stomach. She was so nervous. Why was that? She was less nervous when she faced the Great Maw of Hell.

She quietly peered inside.

Keiichi was there.

He was not alone.

He was passed out, laying naked on his stomach on the tatami mat. And there, sprawled out on top of him crosswise, was a naked woman with scruffy blond hair. She was also on her stomach and passed out. Tattoos covered her shoulders and arms.

Then Skuld saw that her spindly arms were covered with needle marks.

Then she saw Keiichi's arm. She raised her hand to her mouth and gasped.

It had needle marks too.

_Oh Keiichi, what has happened to you? Who is this, this witch? What has she done to you? Poor Keiichi!_

And then it occurred to Skuld that she would not be the one asking for help.

It would be him.

Or so she thought.

She was wrong.


	3. His Answer

**Chapter 3: His Answer**

Skuld woke up Keiichi by using the simple expedient of throwing a bucket of water on his face. He woke up sputtering and swearing. Skuld saw that he was wearing a scruffy beard, and his fingernails were long, dirty, and ragged. He desperately needed a bath.

The strange girl woke up too, and rolled off him while rubbing her eyes. She was covered in tattoos on her arms and down her front. All the way down. Her blond hair was ratty and dirty. She was filthy, in both senses of the word. Skuld was disgusted.

Keiichi was trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. He finally looked up at the surprise visitor, then he squawked and wrapped a blanket around himself. The girl remained _au naturale_. Apparently she didn't care.

Keiichi squinted at the tall goddess. "Who the heck are you? I don't recognize you."

Then the girl spoke in a raspy tone, "Keechee-coo, who's that?"

He explained, "Akuma, this is one of those goddesses I was telling you about. See? She looks just like a hot 22 year-old supermodel. They all look that way. Just like I described."

Skuld was completely flattered. She turned to the side and pushed out her chest a bit. She thought to herself, _These boobs need to be bigger.. but still, yeah, I'm totally hot. Heh._

The girl said, "Wowww.. far out. I guess I didn't believe you. So this is one of them, eh? She's looks delicious. I'd do her."

Then Skuld thought, _What? Eeewww. Whoa, wait a second, I'm on a mission here. This is business. Focus, Skuld, stay focused. Keiichi is in trouble. I need to help him._

Her next thought was, _First step, get rid of the witch._

The girl licked Keiichi's ear in a totally lascivious way. Then she decided to wrap a dirty towel around herself, and she stood up and walked up to Skuld. Skuld looked down at her with disdain. The girl pointed at the blue raindrop sigil located in the center of the goddess' forehead. "Keechee-coo, what is that tattoo? I kinda like it. Face tattoo.. that's radical."

Keiichi also stood up, somewhat unsteady. He said, "Uh.. looks like a raindrop. Wait.. A raindrop! Hey! Skuld, is that you?"

That's better. She grinned like a maniac. "In the flesh. Voilà!" She spun around. Then she crossed her arms under her not insignificant bosom and grinned, "Yep, it's me."

"Wow.. I don't believe it. It really is you. Holy cow.. you've changed."

 _Enough flattery, time for business._ "Nevermind that. What the hell is wrong with you?" She was getting angry with him.

Before he could answer, the girl whispered into Skuld's ear, "You wanna score some? I got lots of shooters left."

That did it. Skuld glared and picked up the girl by her throat. The girl squawked.

Keiichi said, "Hey, Skuld, put her down."

"No. I want to know who you are, girl." Skuld pushed the struggling girl against the wall. "Who you really are, Akuma. That's pretty lame, by the way. That name. In fact, it is a dead giveaway."

The girl started to giggle. Then something shocked Skuld's hand and she was forced to release her grip.

The girl dropped to the floor and stood up. The girl had a nasty grin. "Well, if it isn't the Daitenkaicho herself. Unescorted and alone, in neutral territory, and unprotected. Tsk tsk."

The girl transformed herself into a smaller and younger girl wearing a 'Hello Kitty!' outfit.

It was Eihwaz, Hagall's former second-in-command.

The most powerful demon left alive after the war.

The Daimakaicho.

The new Leader of Hell.

Skuld frowned at her. "Well, this meeting happened sooner than I expected. Of course. You knew I was coming for Keiichi to help me during the negotiations. So you got to him first and messed him up. Turned him into a drug addict. You rotten bitch! I'm gonna freeze your sorry ass so deep in ice..."

"Now, now. We're in parley. New age, new ground rules. Neutrality is in effect until you and I establish those new ground rules. You know that. You can't touch me until then."

Meanwhile, Keiichi was watching the exchange looking dumbfounded. And he was starting to feel a little sheepish about how he was discovered. "Uhm, while you ladies are having your nice little chat, I think I'm going to go put on some clothes."

Skuld whirled to face him. "You stay right where you are, mister. You let yourself get hooked. I'm dealing with you next."

"Gulp.."

Eihwaz laughed, "Good one, Skuld. Nice way to butter up your future husband."

This time both Skuld and Keiichi spoke in unison, "What?"

"You heard me. That's why you are here, right? You need a spouse to become the Daitenkaicho. It's required. Anzus had veto rights over every decision that Tyr made, so she basically had disapproval rights over all his decisions. It's your dumb system in Asgard, correct? A power check on the Big Boss, so he doesn't do something he'd regret later? So, you want Mr. Squish here to take on Anzus' role, to rubberstamp every idiotic decision you make. Because you know he's such a wuss that he'd roll over and go along with every stupid decision of yours, no questions asked."

"Shut up, you liar. That's not true."

"Am I lying? You're first class now, and that means you cannot say a direct lie yourself, correct?" Then she walked up to Keiichi. "Keiichi, dear, go ask her. Ask her if she is here to try to shanghai you up to Asgard and put a ring on you."

Skuld fumed, "I'm not! I just want his advice!"

"But it could lead to that, right? His becoming your veto-spouse? Probably will, yes?"

Skuld remained silent and fuming.

Eihwaz smirked, then looked at Keiichi. "Did you know she has time limit? She can't remain Daitenkaicho if she doesn't meet the qualifications. Even in an emergency, she has only six months to meet them or else she must step down. Permanently. That means you have, what, two months left now?"

Keiichi finally spoke up, "Is this true? Is that why you are here?"

"No, it is not!" Then she looked down. "Ok, honestly, I don't know. I've been dealing with one crisis after another. I just want your advice for the negotiations. I think maybe that when my term ends, I'll just step down. Honestly, I haven't really thought that far ahead yet. And that's the truth."

Eihwaz laughed even harder. "You haven't even thought this through yet? C'mon, nobody is that stupid."

Keiichi could almost see the smoke rising from Skuld's head. Then Eihwaz twisted the knife. "And you know what? He's really good in bed. I think he picked up some moves from your mom. She was really limber. Say, if you don't want him, can I keep him?"

That did it. Skuld rolled up both her sleeves. "That's it. I don't care how many rules I violate. I'm going to hand you your ass. Here. Right. Now."

Eihwaz then looked at her 'Hello Kitty!' wristwatch. "Oh my, look at the time! I must be going. Skuld, I'll contact you later to set up the meeting time and place for the negotiations. We both have much work to do before then. Heh. Tah-tah!" She disappeared in a cloud of greasy black smoke.

Skuld screamed at the ceiling, "Yaarrrgghhh!" Keiichi dived for cover.

Then she blinked her eyes. The poor man was cowering in fear behind the closet door.

Her eyes quickly became soft. "Keiichi, I am so sorry you had to see that. Really. I'm very sorry."

He poked his head out. "It's okay.."

She gave him a gentle smile. "I like your beard. Hey, you know, if you trimmed it and groomed it a little bit, it would make you look really dignified."

He approached her, but still kept his distance. "Eh, it scratches. I'll probably shave it off."

"That's fine. You look nice either way." Then she looked down again, "Keiichi, I'm really sorry that I scared you. It's just my tsundere thing. You know that. Don't let it frighten you." She looked back up at him with kind eyes, "I'm still trying to get a handle on all this stuff, so much has happened. Look, I'm really sorry. I'll try to not do it again, ok?"

Keiichi marvelled at her sudden change in demeanor. She looked so gentle and caring. It was like she was a different person. "Uh, fine. Sure. No problem. I know it's just your temper talking."

"Thank you. I know I need to work on that. I'm so sorry. Just get dressed. I'll meet you at the kitchen table. I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind." She turned to leave the room, then she turned back and said, "Oh.. and take a bath first. I mean, really, you stink." She left.

Keiichi stood there alone for a moment. The lies that Eihwaz had planted in his heart would not go away.

* * *

Skuld remained seated at the kitchen table and waited for Keiichi to clean himself up. Her mind was racing, trying to digest and understand everything she had seen during the past hour.

That girl's name, Akuma. Seriously? Skuld knew that the kanji for that name also meant 'demon'. What a dead giveaway.

Why didn't Keiichi spot that? Or worse, what if he did, and he just didn't care?

Skuld continued to brood. What had happened to the poor man? Eihwaz got to him first and completely messed him up. That bitch somehow got him to repeatedly inject himself with some kind of mind altering substance. Something probably like alcohol, but much worse, and very likely physically addicting.

But why was he so vulnerable to her temptations? What happened to him? He didn't know about Ragnarök.

But he knew that his wife was leaving him, and with Belldandy's spirit somewhere inside her head. He was losing the two loves of his life. Both of them. At the same time. He knew it was some kind of suicide mission, but it was never fully explained to him.

He didn't know that Belldandy's spirit had in fact survived the mission and transcended, that she was now... someplace else. Before the mission his wife explained that Belldandy would be waiting for him 'up there', but he never understood what she meant by that, not really. All he knew was that they were gone.

They all left him, even Skuld, who rushed off to help save Asgard. Keiichi was alone. And so the days passed, then weeks, then months. He was lost. At some point he dived into alcohol and chemicals to try to stop the pain.

Skuld understood his pain better than anybody. She was there when it happened, for she had lost her Big Sis and her adopted mother, also at the same time. And yet Skuld didn't crash into major depression and drug use like Keiichi did. Yes, she knew that Eihwaz's temptations contributed to it, but they wouldn't alone have been sufficient to make him fall apart like that. Something else must have pushed him.

Skuld knew she needed to talk with him. To find out his state of mind. She wanted to know what was really going on inside him.

To try to save him.

That was Skuld's new top priority. As if she didn't have enough on her plate right now. But he came first.

* * *

Fully dressed, he finally walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table across from her. He was now clean shaven. "Uh, thank you for spotting the succubus, or whatever. I'm grateful. But that still doesn't explain why you are here. And don't lie to me. I'll know. Look, I know you can't tell direct lies, but you can evade just like Belldandy could. My wife was the exception. She literally didn't know how to lie, and you already know that was a big reason why I loved her. So I ask again: Why are you here?"

Skuld decided she would be honest with him. She had to. If she was going to trust him implicitly in his new role, he would have to trust her as well. No lies, no evasions.

"Look, Keiichi, what Eihwaz said back there was partly true, but it was mainly a lie. At least I think so. The bottom line is that I am here to ask you for help."

"What kind of help?"

"Keiichi, look at me."

"Uh, yeah. You look hot."

Skuld started to blush. "Thank you.. really. That means a lot coming from you. But that's not what I mean."

"Okay.."

"Look at me. I'm all grown up now. I literally grew up in two weeks. So in some ways I feel like a grown-up person, but in other ways I don't. Now, I can still feel myself changing, and maybe I will soon be a 100% grown-up, in every way, but not yet."

She went on, "Keiichi, I'm basically the boss of Heaven now. And I'm not ready for it. Maybe I never will be."

"Huh? I'm not following. How did that possibly happen?"

She explained, "I am what they call the Daitenkaicho. That means 'The President of Heaven'. Keiichi, there was a terrible war Upstairs. A terrible, terrible war. Almost everybody else is dead, almost everybody that we ever knew. It wiped out our whole family: Big Sis, Urd, your wife - my mother. Everybody. I'm all alone now."

He remained silent.

She held his hand. "Look, there are these negotiations coming up with Eihwaz. You just saw how badly I flubbed things back there. She'll run rings around me. I need you there during the negotiations to give me advice. That's all I am asking of you, just tell me what you think I should agree to. And maybe help me with some ideas and suggestions as I try to manage the rebuild of Heaven. That's it."

She gripped his hand harder. "Keiichi, it is only temporary. You heard Eihwaz. My term is up in two months. Then you can go back home. Look, I really need your help right now. Can you please help me?"

Keiichi then thought about it for a moment.

Then he sat back and gave Skuld his answer.

She was shocked.

"No."


	4. Detox

**Chapter 4: Detox**

Skuld got angry at Keiichi. "What the hell do you mean by 'No'?"

He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "Well, for starters, exactly that. You have a nasty temper, Skuld."

She was about to explode and say, "No I don't!" But she caught herself. Instead she sighed and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm really trying." She leaned back as well, being careful to remain calm and maintain eye contact with him. "But I think just your presence helps calm me down. I know this will sound kind of weird, but I think you have some kind of strange soothing effect on us goddesses. You really do. Heck, I think you even got Hild to mellow out a couple times."

"Ok.. might be true. But there's another problem."

"Which is?"

"I can't be hurt again. I just can't."

"Hurt? I'll never hurt you. You know that. You want me to promise?"

"No, that's not the kind of hurt I mean."

Skuld simply waited. She remained calm and indulgent with him. She hoped that he saw that on her face. He did.

And that was the problem.

"Skuld, look. You remember my wife? It was a forced arrangement. Forced on the two of us. Neither of us wanted it. Neither of us were ready for it, her especially. But we were stuck together. Eventually we started talking a lot and got to know each other, how alike we were, that we were both loners. Then things happened."

He looked down. "It was.. wonderful. Those three months of bliss. And then, just like that, poof, she was gone. She never even said goodbye."

"I know.. I was there, remember? She became like a mother to me. A real mother."

"Yeah."

Then Skuld felt her anger build again, but not at him. And this time she didn't try to stifle it. "And you know what? Did you know that I've never actually talked with my real mother, Anzus, ever? Not even during Big Sis' funeral! I mean, she was standing right there next to my father during the funeral service, and she never once even walked over to say 'hi' to me! Not once! Ever! And I have hardly ever talked face-to-face with my father, Tyr, either. Maybe two or three times in my whole life! At least you had real parents who raised you!"

"Skuld, calm down. Actually, my father raised Megumi and me alone, but nevermind."

"Huh? Oh, I didn't know that." Skuld kept on topic. "Uh, look, all I'm saying is that in the hurt department I'm pretty far up the charts too, you know. My sisters were my _entire_ family. And I lost them both! You and I lost something very precious. And yeah, she was my Big Sis. I idolized her. Still do. And I knew her waaaay longer than you did."

"But you didn't know her like I did."

"So what if I didn't?

"You don't understand."

"Actually I think I do. I kept trying to break you two up, remember?"

"Yeah, and why was that exactly, again?"

"Because.. because.. I was jealous I think.."

"Very good. Thank you for being honest with me."

She gave him a small smile. "You're welcome. Keiichi, I always want to be honest with you. It's why I need you right now. You're the only one who can keep me pointed in the right direction."

He shook his head again. "No. Sorry. I decline."

"Dang it, why?"

"I already told you. I can't be hurt again."

"I won't hurt you!"

"Yes, you will."

"How?"

"By getting yourself killed."

"What?"

"Look, this is another set up. I can smell it. Two months from now something is going to happen, and you'll be forced to keep your Daiten-whatsis title."

"Keiichi, I..."

"Don't interrupt me. You will need to stay in charge, and for that you need a spouse. And, oh, looky here, Keiichi is standing right there! So let's go grab him and do a shotgun wedding! Woo hoo!"

"I wouldn't do that.."

"You won't have a choice!"

Skuld was silent. She admitted to herself that it might be possible. "And would that be so bad? Look, it could be a marriage of convenience. You wouldn't have to love me. And if you want to.. see.. someone else.. I won't stand in your way."

"You know me better than that."

It was true, she did.

Then she started to understand. "Oh.. I see it now.. you think we'll fall in love, for real.."

"Right."

".. and I'm a combat Valkyrie, just like your wife was. And they have a high mortality rate.."

"Right."

She was getting it now. ".. and you don't want to be a double-widower."

Now it was Keiichi's turn to get upset. "That's right! I can't! I can't do that again! I lost Belldandy. I saw her die right in front of me! Then I lost.. then I lost.. I lost.. I'm alone.. I can't do it. Never again."

There was a moment of silence.

"Ok. I think I understand. Thank you for telling me." She sighed. "Yeah, we've both been hurt pretty bad.." She began to tear up a bit. ".. by things beyond our control. Just sitting there and watching it all happen. I can see why you are so gun-shy now."

She leaned forward again and held his hand. This time he didn't try to take it away. "Look, I could turn in my stars, quit the Fighting Wings. The Daitenkaicho is always well protected. Never leaves Heaven. That's the rule. And always with a security escort wherever they go."

"Just like you have right now, eh? Uh-huh."

"All right, I admit I got some flack for coming down here alone. Maybe I shouldn't have done it. I just wanted to see you in private, face-to-face."

Then Keiichi took away his hand again. "And that is how you will _always_ be, Skuld. Don't you see? You will dive right into things, without any regard for your personal safety. You will leap into conflict, risk your life without hesitation. You are just like your sisters. And, hey, it's really admirable. You are a wonderful person."

He looked down. "And you will do the right thing, and it will get yourself killed.."

She waited for him to say it.

".. and that is exactly why I have to say 'no'."

She had no good response. He was right.

* * *

He escorted her to the door. At the threshold she turned back to face him. "Keiichi, those needle marks. Eihwaz got you hooked on something. You need medical help."

"I'll take care of it myself."

"Don't do it alone. Talk to someone. Megumi maybe?"

"She's moved to Paris to stay with her boyfriend."

"Oh. Anyone else?"

"I'll deal with it."

"You shouldn't be left alone right now."

"What choice do I have?"

"Keiichi, I.."

He then closed the door in the face of the Leader of Heaven.

And she stood there for a long time.

* * *

One week later.

Keiichi staggered to the park bench, and sat there. He had lots of free time now, ever since Chihiro almost fired him from Whirlwind for his chronic absenteeism and insubordination. She suspected a substance abuse problem, but he denied it.

Then when she pressed him, he announced that he was quitting, and he walked out. That was four days ago.

He simply sat there on the park bench, lost and alone.

Then an old woman sat down next to him, rather close. "Such a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Huh? Yeah, I suppose it is."

"This is my favorite park bench. It has such a lovely view of the campus quad. You can see so many interesting young people going about their business."

"I guess."

She held out her hand. "My name is Mrs. Kurosawa. And yours is..?"

"Uh, Keiichi Morisato."

"Nice to meet you. Hmm, Morisato. You know, I think I met your wife once."

"What?"

"She was such a lovely person. She was sitting right there, where you are sitting now."

"You don't say."

"She asked me what love really was. And I told her."

Hey, who was this old woman? He was certain he never saw her before. And his wife never mentioned her. Hmm..

"Hookay.. What did you tell her?"

She said, "What she needed to hear."

Then she said, "Don't do it alone."

"What?"

"You're addiction. It's physical, but it is merely a side effect of something else. Something spiritual."

Okay, which one is she? Obviously not a demon. And she's too laid back to be Skuld in disguise. Must be a new one. He decided to humor her.

"You might be right."

"I think I am. You lost your loves, now you are losing yourself. So now you've lost your motorcycle license, your job, everything. It's all because she told you the Truth, and now you've walked away from it. Why did you do that?"

_Wow, she's good, whichever one she is. Could she be.. no.. Belldandy wouldn't be that brutally honest. She'd be more indirect. I don't know this person._

He answered, "I don't know."

"You're not just hurting yourself, you know. Her younger sister has decided to do something very drastic. It will change her life forever, and possibly in a terrible way. She's doing it all for you."

"What is she doing?"

"She's making sure that she can keep a promise for you."

"A promise?"

The old woman got up. "To never leave you." She walked away.

_Who the heck was that?_

* * *

"Argh! We need to get Yggdrasil Mark II up right _now_!"

Ere said, "But ma'am, you're skipping too many steps. Not doing regression testing for compatibility could blow the whole data stack." Ex nodded her head in agreement.

"I don't care! I need to get my hands on that file as soon as possible. No matter the cost."

"But ma'am.."

"Look, I'm the Daitenkaicho, right? That means I get the right to look at the Blue File. I need to see it."

"Ma'am, please, I urge you to reconsider. The Blue File contains information on future events. If you read it and learn information about yourself, it will become locked in. It will become inevitable. You won't be able to change it."

"Yeah, I know."

"But if it says you will die on a certain day, then you will. It will certainly happen, and you won't be able to avoid it. That's something you don't really want to know.. do you?"

"Actually that is exactly what I want to know."

Ere and Ex looked at each other. Ex piped up for them both, "Uhm, can we ask why?"

"Because I need to be able to make a promise to someone."

The two sysadmins then looked at each other in confusion. Then Ere whispered, "I think she's nuts."

"Hey! I heard that!"

"Sorry.."

"Just get it online. I don't care how."

* * *

He injected himself again. "I can't stop.."

He collapsed on the floor.

He awoke. How long? He was dehydrated. He could barely move.

"I'm powerless.. I can't do it myself.."

He crawled to the telephone and dialed the number.

He heard a recorded message, "Thank you for calling the Goddess Help Line. We regret that we are currently out of service. Please try calling us again later. Thank you, and have a nice life!"

"Great.."

He fell back to the floor.

Another blackout.

* * *

More time passed. How long?

"Skuld.. I messed up.."

He knew he wasn't going to make it.

"I need your help.."

He fell unconscious for the last time.

* * *

Skuld meditated. This was a daily requirement of her office. In doing so, she knew she might sometimes receive.. communication.. from a higher level of reality. Indeed, one of the main functions of her office was to be the ambassador between reality levels for precisely this purpose.

So far she only received reassurances, nothing that she felt was particularly useful.

But not this time.

_Keiichi is dying_

Her eyes popped open.

She took off at top speed to the Valhalla Gate. This time the gate was able to dial the Japan Gate in seconds.

* * *

Keiichi awoke in a strange white room. He wondered if he was dead. Was this the afterlife?

He decided it wasn't. It was because Skuld was standing over him, with her arms crossed and frowning.

"Doctor Nie, he's waking up."

He walked over. "Ah, very good."

Keiichi tried to sit up. "Wha' happen?"

Doctor Nie pressed him back down on the bed. "Please don't get up. The drug Eihwaz used on you was quite potent. The detoxification is almost complete."

"Detoxification?"

"Yes. Please understand this will only remove the physical addiction. Any other underlying problem will remain."

"Underlying problem.."

He felt someone holding his hand.

"Keiichi, you're never alone."

He smiled weakly.

"Yeah."

* * *

**A/N:**

My mother was an alcoholic. I basically raised myself alone. So I am acutely aware of the problems of chemical addiction.

These are the original twelve steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous (paraphrased for general substance abuse):

1\. We admitted we were powerless over our addiction. That our lives had become unmanageable.

2\. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3\. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4\. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5\. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6\. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7\. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8\. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9\. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10\. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11\. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12\. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

For more information please see aa dot org.

I would also add one more important item: _Do not do it alone._

Find someone. Anyone. Find someone you can absolutely trust and talk to (in person, not online, not on the phone) about what is going on in your life. If you have an SO already, that is wonderful. He/she probably already knows, but ask him/her for help anyway. If not, find someone to confess to. I don't care who, a pastor, a relative, a close friend, a co-worker, but find someone. In my experience that is the most important thing you can do.

The real secret to 12-step is the meetings and the accountability stuff (another recovering addict checks up on you). That is the only way to do it.

I'm deadly serious about this.

-HuuskerDu

P.S. My mother later became a significant leader of AA in my state, with almost 40 years of sobriety, and she sponsored innumerable others to recovery. It really does work.

P.P.S. Don't worry, this is not a depressing story about chemical addiction. This is a fun story, and Keiichi will do just fine. He will get his problem under control in the next chapter and it won't be a factor for the remainder of this story.


	5. Negotiations

**Chapter 5: Negotiations**

Skuld plowed through the huge stack of paperwork on her desk.

The office assistant buzzed. "Madam Skuld, your 10 o'clock appointment is here."

"Fine, send him in." She kept flipping through pages of documents.

A very tall man entered the room.

He approached her desk. "Madam Daitenkaicho." His voice was soft, almost a whisper. He bowed deeply and formally, showing his purple-white hair. His every move was graceful. Despite his imposing size there was a kind of.. gentleness about him. The overall effect was one of quiet but enormous power combined with a peaceful serenity.

She pulled out his file. "Let's see.. You are Nigihayami Kohakunushi, Ambassador Second Class. She scribbled something on the file. "I'm sorry, Ambassador First Class. My mistake." She grinned. "Congrats. You've been promoted. You see, we are a little short-staffed right now."

"Thank you, Madam Daitenkaicho."

"Please, in this office you can just call me Skuld."

"Thank you, Madam Skuld."

"Just Skuld. Formalities are hereby dispensed with. Let's see.." She flipped the page. "You have an impressive CV. Lucky you were down on Earth when the poop hit the fan around here."

"Yes, Madam Skuld."

"I said just Skuld."

"Yes, Skuld."

She looked up at him. His face remained impassive. She looked back down at the briefing folder. "We both know that Yggdrasil Mark II is still offline. But there was an important assignment that got dropped in our lap just before the big catfight. It came down from Reality Level 3. Received by the Yggdrasil Mark I and given to my predecessor. But it never got fulfilled for obvious reasons. It's an Ultra. Needs immediate attention. It was in my predecessor's Blue File."

She paused to see if he had any questions, but he remained impassive. So she went on. "Yeah, we're still working on getting a new copy of the Blue File with the current revisions. But for now, I'm just gonna send you out with the old info. You'll have to improvise as needed. I see from your record that you're rather good at that."

"I am."

"Good. Here's your assignment." She handed him a thin yellow folder. He opened it and began to read it.

The Daitenkaicho continued to brief the tall man. "That girl will be the nexus of some kind of major multiverse crisis. I'm not sure what, exactly. The system is still offline. All I know is that the crisis will affect potentially an infinite number of alternate universes, and the possible futures for each and every one. Reality Level 3 says it's really, really important that the girl be guided and protected. Like I said, it's an Ultra. The primary will be born in, uh, universe instance K-145-Q-561. On the indicated date, in Japan, Earth, Sol."

"I see. An interesting name. Not Japanese. Joanne is a Western name, is it not?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. Oh, I see it written here. The briefing says there's a reason for that, her older brother. It's probably not important. The important thing is that you must keep her on the path, and protect her at any cost." That meant including his own life.

He understood. "I will. But, Skuld, the girl is not even born yet. What will I do until then?"

"Very good, you caught that. Meanwhile you'll be doing your secondary assignment. It starts at.. let's see.. T-1082 years. Rather a long stint, I'm afraid."

"I do not mind."

"For your secondary mission your name will be Haku, your apparent human age will be fixed at 12, and you will have grade 8 water elemental powers and grade 7 air elemental powers. That's pretty high. Don't get spirited away with those powers. Use limiters."

"I won't, and I will."

"Your primary will intersect the secondary at the indicated spacetime point on the chart."

"I will be ready."

"Very good. That's basically it. Please go and carry out your mission, and best wishes. Dismissed."

The tall man bowed formally and left the Daitenkaicho's office. Skuld again marvelled at his elegant grace, his every physical movement was one of seeming perfection.

 _Good luck_ , she thought. _You are going to need it._

* * *

Skuld pressed her chin on the rooftop railing. Keiichi continued to eat his box lunch. They made it a habit to meet up on the roof of the temporary HQ building during each workday, with him eating his lunch, while she took a break between the morning and afternoon sessions.

"I gotta say, Skuld, things aren't going that badly."

"Thanks for the faint praise.."

"No, I mean it. You're doing about as well as anyone could expect."

She turned her head on the railing and made a small smile. "Really? Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"How are you doing with, you know..." Skuld was his rehab sponsor.

"Good. I haven't had the urge for a week now."

"That's the longest yet. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks."

She stood up and faced him. "You're still set on leaving in five weeks?"

"Yep."

"Sigh. About that.."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I just got word on who my replacement will be."

He saw her face. "Ok.. you're not happy. How bad?"

"See for yourself. She's coming upstairs right now."

Just then they heard a voice behind them. "Skuld! Keiichi! Hi!"

They turned around.

It was Chrono.

And someone was with her.

Keiichi and Skuld did a double facepalm.

It was Troubadour.

* * *

Chrono and Troubadour left the rooftop, arm in arm.

After they were just out of earshot, Keiichi hissed, "Skuld, you can't be serious! Chrono? She's just a kid!"

"Keiichi, I'm not disagreeing with you. I think you are right. She would be a terrible Daitenkaicho. I mean, she's a great fighting Valkyrie and military tactician, and she's a very good combat engineer too, although not as good as I am. But she's very insecure and needy, and she can be easily persuaded to do.. well.. anything, really. No matter how foolish or dangerous. And you're right, she's too young. Although I'm kind of a hypocrite for saying that."

"No, you're not. You're the right person for this job."

What? "You really think so?"

"I do. But why her, of all people?"

 _He believes in me!_ Skuld took a moment to regroup her thoughts, then she said, "I'm sorry. She's the next highest ranking goddess. Celebine promoted her to acting Air Marshal right at the start of the battle, probably because your wife always thought very highly of her. I've seen her in action myself. Chrono is a great Valkyrie. And she never formally resigned her sysadmin commission when she jumped from Peorth's team to the Fighting Wings, so she was still also listed as a System Administrator Second Class. The dual ranks put her at the top of the promotion list."

Keiichi sighed and said, "But emotionally she's totally immature. You know that! And you are absolutely right, she is needy as hell. Good grief, she hit on my wife a couple times. Me too."

"I know. Ditto."

"Really? Oh, brother. I mean, c'mon, Troubadour!? That jerk is using her!  He knows he can use his wiles to to get his way with her when she's the Daitenkaicho. When that happens that singing idiot will actually be _running_ this place!"

"I said I know."

There was a pause.

"Keiichi, I can't resign."

"I can see that. Ugh."

"Sigh, I know.. and I hate this job."

"If you recall, I predicted that something like this would happen."

"Yeah.. you did. You were right. Again. This is becoming a habit."

"Get used to it. And now you're putting me in an impossible position."

She held his hands in hers. "Keiichi, I'm working on it. I know what you are asking for. Really, I do. Just give me a week or so and I'll have your answer. I promise."

"Okay. Let's try not to think about that right now. The negotiations are a few days away. We should prepare."

"Right. Let's go."

They went back downstairs.

* * *

Eihwaz magnanimously agreed to hold the negotiations in Asgard.

So Skuld hosted the meeting on the rooftop of the temporary HQ building.

Eihwaz cracked her bubble gum as she crossed her feet on top of the table. She was wearing her special ceremonial 'Hello Kitty!' outfit. It was totally decked out: her skirt, her blouse, her sweater, her hair barretts, her cap, her gloves, her socks, and her shoes were all stamped with that insipid cat's mouthless face and whiskers. Probably her underwear too.*

Skuld sat at the table across from her, with Keiichi at her side.

Eihwaz opened with her usual jibe. "I see you brought your boy toy. Hmm, no ring yet."

Skuld promised Keiichi she'd keep her cool. "Let's just stay on topic here."

"'kay. Wow, your place got really trashed."

"I said stay on topic."

"Whatever."

Skuld looked at her clipboard. "First, I want no more assassinations. That means no sneaky poisons or bio-weapons. All fights are straight up."

Eihwaz waved her off. "Pshaw. You goody goodies would like that. That's not our style, and you know it."

"Then give me a counter-offer."

"'kay. Here's an easy one: End the doublet system."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. It's not working. No other mansion does it. There's a reason they don't."

Keiichi spoke up. "She's got a point."

Skuld asked, "How you figure?"

"Asgard suffered, what, 90% casualties? A whole lot of those were doublet-related. Without that system the casualties would have been around 70%. Still pretty awful, I know. But three times as many people would have survived."

Skuld frowned. She still didn't like the idea. "Keiichi, the whole point of the doublet system is to make sure each side thinks twice before they off somebody."

Keiichi said, "Yeah, I know that. But it's too indiscriminate."

Eihwaz spoke up. "Listen to your boy toy. He's right. Look, remember when you lost Celanor? That was because one of our stupider L1s inadvertently tripped one of your automatic gate defenses and got fried. And poof, you lost a major player on your Valkyrie hit squad. I remember that your mom was pretty pissed about that one. 2x losses due to stupid accidents like that. It's dumb."

Keiichi said, "I agree. That's why we are asking for the no-assassination rule, to counterbalance dropping the doublet system."

The kitty girl sat up. "Oooh.. he's a smart one. Skuld, you better keep him."

"Shut up. Deal or no deal?"

"Well... 'kay. Deal."

"Good."

"Next one?"

Skuld looked at her clipboard. "Fenrir stays in its cage. Never comes out."

"Aww.. but Fenrir is so pretty. Especially when it is doing its thing."

Keiichi spoke up again. "Look, the Lord of Terror almost trashed the Universe with that monster. It's totally unpredictable. When you unleashed it, that thing could have just as easily gone after you guys instead of us."

"But it didn't."

Skuld leaned forward. "Yeah, and I kicked it in the teeth."

"I gotta admit, what you did was pretty radical, making it choke on that Veggie thing."

"Darn tootin'."

"Okay, yeah, unleashing Fenrir was a total crap shoot. It was Hild's idea. I didn't like it anymore than you did. It was 'cuz Hild was getting pretty crazy near the end. It was your psycho mom that did it. Your mom and her nutso Valkyries. They were getting too good. Hild got desperate. All your mom's fault."

Keiichi secretly squeezed his hand on Skuld's knee under the table. She took the hint and kept quiet. She didn't blow up at Eihwaz.

Eihwaz popped her gum. "Okay, the big wolfie stays down."

"Agreed."

Asgard had just won a major concession, for the cost of a taunt.

And so the negotiations continued.

* * *

The talks were finally concluded.

Skuld watched Eihwaz fly up to the gate.

And then, once the Leader of the Underworld was out of range, Skuld jumped for joy. "Wooie! That was great! Keiichi, you were magnificent!"

Then she kissed him.

He was caught off guard. He didn't resist. Then she realized what she was doing, and she let go of her embrace.

"Oh, I'm so sorry.."

"It's okay.."

"I let my emotions get carried away. I'm really sorry."

"No, it's fine. Look, I understand your feelings."

"You do?"

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Yeah. We're good friends. More than just friends. But look, I'm not doing any more relationships."

She looked down. "Yeah, you've explained it several times. I understand completely."

"Thanks. I'm glad."

She looked up at him with a wistful expression, "I know."

He smiled at her. "I'm glad you understand. I mean, good grief, I was technically your step-father. I'm not doing the Woody Allen thing, that's all. It would be kinda weird."

She looked annoyed and took her hand away. "Hey, only your wife signed the paperwork. She deliberately kept your name off." Skuld then asked herself if her mother did that because she had known what could, or would, happen.

Skuld then looked down again. "I know you don't like me as a person. I mean, not really. You just put up with me. You're making a sacrifice for the greater good, because that's who you are."

It was his turn to hold her hand. "Hey, no. Don't get me wrong. You've really changed, Skuld. You've become a wonderful person. And you saved my life. And these past two months have been wonderful. Really nice. You've never blown up at me, I mean not in any real way. And yeah, I could get used to living up here. And you've been my rehab sponsor. That's a position of complete trust. And for that reason I shouldn't live alone again, at least not for a while. And, ok, you look totally hot. I admit it. You're a babe."

"You still make me blush whenever you say that. Flattery will get you everywhere with me, you know."

"Very funny. But the point is, I've done all that. And the cost is just too high. I'm not ready. I'll probably never be ready."

"Never? Why?"

"Because I just can't.. My heart has been ripped out too many times. I can't do it again. I can't.. lose anyone.. again.." He turned away.

She spoke to his back. "You mean if I get myself killed with my heroics."

He turned to face her again. "Exactly. Look, just think of me as your kissing cousin."

She laughed, but a bit bitterly. "You're absolutely right. You can't be hurt again."

"Hmm?"

She put her hands behind her back. "I said you're right."

His eyes narrowed. "You're scheming. I can tell."

"Maybe I am. Give me a few days."

He gently held her shoulders. "Skuld, someone warned me you were going to attempt to do.. something. Something drastic, something dangerous, something that might be terrible for you. To get me to stay. Don't do it."

"You know me better than that."

"Yeah I do. That's the problem. Look, whatever it is, please don't do it."

"That is for me to decide, isn't it?"

"Don't do it for me. I'm not worth it."

"Keiichi, your worth to me is mine to decide as I wish. It's my decision, not yours. Besides, I can't do my job any other way."

"Skuld.."

"You know how much I care about you."

"Yeah, I know. You've been making that pretty clear these past few weeks."

"I.. I have?"

"Yeah."

"Then wish me luck?"

He shook his head. "You've always been crazy."

She smiled. "I know. That's why you can't resist me."

"Yeah, yeah. I wish. Ok, I know I'm not going to win this one." He smiled wanly. "I'm bushed. I'm going to bed. Just try to stay alive until tomorrow, ok?" He smiled again, then he went downstairs.

* * *

She remained on the rooftop, standing alone, for a long time.

She sighed as she looked over her domain. She knew Keiichi would stay only on his own terms. And he was absolutely right. She had to first guarantee that he wouldn't be hurt again. She knew what she had to do, and she didn't need his warning. She already suspected how high the price will be for her.

And if it only ended up as a marriage of convenience? Well, so be it. It had to be done. And if she could make that promise to him? Then, she believed, he would agree to such an arrangement. She knew that he was as much a creature of duty as she was. And it wouldn't be the first time a monarch married someone for political reasons. And sometimes they actually like each other. She knew that at least they already had that part out of the way.

 _C'est la vie_. She turned to go downstairs.

Then she heard tinny laughter. It was coming from her left shoulder. What?

It was Eihwaz in mini-chibi form. She was eating popcorn.

"Hahaha! I love watching you two interact. Dancing around each other like in a soap. He's gonna be the death of you both. You know that, right? You're doing _The Gift of the Magi_. At least you are. You're playing Della. Not sure about him. Must be 'cuz those drugs messed him up, heh. Anyway, go for it! I'll watch and eat my popcorn."

Skuld smacked Eihwaz off her shoulder. "Hey! Parley is over. Get out of here!"

The demon fluttered to the ground and changed to normal size.

"I came back to tell you the good news. Without your boy toy around. Don't you want to hear the good news?"

"What good news?"

Eihwaz then leaned forward and whispered softly into her ear, "I am pregnant with your future husband's child."

"What? Liar!"

No. It couldn't be. It was impossible.

Then Skuld remembered how she first saw Keiichi, scruffy, bearded, intoxicated, passed out. With Eihwaz laying naked on top of him.

"You heard me, Skuld. And I have a prophecy for you. It's a doozy. I received it from my Lower Management, from my bosses, straight to me, the Daimakaicho."

No.. "A prophecy?"

"A prophecy: Any child born from that union will overthrow Asgard."

"No!"

"Yes. And you are the Daitenkaicho, so you _know_ it's true. And you know for certain that _I am not lying_."

She felt it. She knew. The prophesy was true.

"No.. No.. NOOOOO!"

"Yes!"

Skuld fell to her knees.

"Very good. Practice that stance. Your future husband will be the father of the ruler of Asgard. Isn't the irony delicious? I simply love it!"

"Get.. get out of here..", Skuld rasped, "before.. I.. kill you.."

"Yeah, I can see you're getting pretty pissed off. I better go. Tah-tah, bye!" She left again.

This time Skuld made sure she was gone. She looked up and waited, until she saw Eihwaz pass through the gate.

Then, on that lonely rooftop, still on her knees, Skuld bent forward. She closed her eyes tightly, and pressed her forehead to the ground, and fell into despair.

"No.. no.."

Previously, Skuld had worried that while she looked like an adult on the outside, some part of her was still a child on the inside. She was a person who was, perhaps, 70% an adult.

That partial-child-in-an-adult's-body was the person who had fallen to her knees.

Then something happened.

"I won't allow it."

As she knelt on the ground, she changed. Whatever remained of her inner child was burning away.

Whatever had remained of the Skuld the child, that part was disappearing.

The person who stood up again was changed.

That person was an adult. It was 100%.

She was an adult.

And so she went downstairs.

To her destiny.

* * *

**A/N:**

*There is an actual website called 'Hello Kitty Hell'. I think Eihwaz buys all her 'Hello Kitty!' wardobe and knick-knacks from that website.


	6. The Last, Final Choice

**Chapter 6: The Last, Final Choice**

Skuld was showing off her water-bending skills. She motioned with her arms and several metric tons of water from the river lifted into the air. She then spun it around her head like a big hula-hoop. Then she raised it up high, towards the cliff face far above the river. She then whipped it down with terrific force, one, two, three, four times. It calved a huge chunk off of the cliff, like an iceberg, which then fell into the riverbed with an enormous roar of wind and sound.

The great river was now blocked by a dam of solid rock.

She then picked up the water and whipped it several more times, slicing a large 'V' in the center of the rock dam.

The great river flowed again.

Chrono and Keiichi applauded. The girl said, "That was cool!"

Skuld wiped her hands on her sides. "No sweat."

Keiichi said, "Wow, Skuld. That was awesome. You make that water-bending master, Katara, in that western animated TV show _Avatar: The Last Air Bender_ look like she's playing with a toy squirt gun."

"Well, water is my natural element, you know. Now that I have spell powers and first class rank I can really kick ass in the water department."

Chrono piped up again, "That was really neat. You know, I just thought of about ten different military maneuvers that you could implement in combat with that ability."

"Good. I was hoping you would say that. That's why I asked you here. Tell me your ideas."

And so Chrono did.

Then Keiichi thought of an eleventh military maneuver. A very, very deadly one. One that Katara herself had learned, from a very evil person.

Both goddesses were startled. They both stared at him.

Then Skuld said, "Keiichi... remember my Texas Murder chainsaw?"

"Uh, yeah, that was really scary."

"Well, what you just suggested is worse... that's just murder, plain murder."

"Oh, sorry."

But she did not forget it.

* * *

Skuld sat at her desk and flipped through the yellow folder. She said "Congrats, you passed the first class exam. You did really well."

The girl stood before the Daitenkaicho. She was dressed in black, looking somewhat like a Greek Orthodox nun. She wore a black pillbox hat and a long flowing heavy skirt with a white frock. Her hair was dark bluish-purple, long, and flowing, and she had beautiful deep ruby colored eyes. And her face was demure with a gentle smile.

She bowed formally. "Thank you, Madam Skuld."

"Right. Now, we don't normally promote mortals to become goddesses like this... excuse me, I mean _angels_ \- we're switching the terminology for new recruits. Anyway, as you can see things are still pretty disorganized around here, and we're kinda short-staffed right now."

Skuld clasped her hands on her desk. "You've been chosen to be the first mortal candidate to be promoted as an angel under the new system. It hasn't happened in quite a while. And your life experience makes you uniquely qualified for this honor. And you quickly passed the L1 exam. Very impressive. That hasn't happened in a really long time."

That was true. It had not happened since Xena was promoted that way. It was such a pity that the former warrior princess was unable to remain in her new exalted role for very long. Of course that was a long time ago.

The girl bowed again. "I am honored by your words."

"Okay, you get to be our first L1 on the new Goddess Help Line. You know the new rules, right?"

"I do."

"Let's recap anyway: No meta-wishes. And no wishes that commit you permanently to any task, like staying by someone's side forever, or anything stupid like that. And if they wish for anything else that sounds stupid, you check it with me first. Got that?"

"I understand."

"Hmm. Your file says that your mortal lover is still alive on Earth. Yu Himura."

"Yes, I know. I've been watching him."

"You have? You aren't supposed to do that. You are to only monitor potential wish recipients, and only for checking their karma eligibility. Remember that."

Skuld had remembered how Belldandy had privately confessed to secretly observing Keiichi years before he made his wish. Watching the trials and tribulations of his life, watching and cheering him on, in secret. She suspected that was how Belldandy first got smitten with him.

"Yes, Madam Skuld."

"Hmm.. is this going to be a problem?"

"No, Madam Skuld."

"Okay. Look, just don't do anything stupid. That's all I ask. This is basically a test to see if a mortal can do this job. We need all the help that we can get up here right now. So please don't disappoint me."

"I won't."

"Good. Dismissed."

The girl bowed and left.

Skuld tapped her finger on her desk. She wondered.

* * *

Chrono continued to sip her tea. "Skuld, I agree with you. But you know that there is a lot of prejudice up here against mortals taking on angelic roles."

Skuld wiped her mouth with a napkin. She had just finished a small cup of strawberry ice cream. "Can't be helped. If mortals can do the job, why shouldn't they be promoted? Everybody knows how short-staffed we are right now."

"Mortals are such plebians. They don't have the higher gifts. The deep understanding. They are _déclassé_." He did have enough sense to quickly add, ".. present company excepted, of course."

That was Troubadour.

Skuld secretly squeezed her hand on Keiichi's knee under the table. He took the hint and kept quiet. He didn't blow up at the singing doofus. Instead Keiichi gritted his teeth and said, "How magnanimous of you."

Troubadour failed to detect the dripping sarcasm in his voice. Instead he merely nodded as he looked up from the table at the wonderful scenic vista on the rooftop. "Think nothing of it. We immortals have a higher calling. A higher purpose." He looked indulgently at Chrono. "And we appreciate the finer things." She quickly blushed.

Skuld wasn't sure how much longer she could keep Keiichi from losing it. She tried to change the subject. "Of course. Now, tell us again about your latest quest? It sounds very interesting."

He leaned forward, almost conspiratorially. "Yes! As you may recall, as the Plum Tree Spirit, I was able to break the seal of the magical scroll that called forth the Golden Nightingale, to bring forth it's magnificent song. The seal could only be broken by the Tear of Truth of a goddess."

Skuld said, "Yes, that was my sister Urd, if you recall."

Keiichi had to get in a jibe. "And you faked her out, used her, to get what you wanted." He looked at Chrono when he said it. If Chrono caught the point of his remark, it didn't show on her face.

Troubadour didn't miss that one. He frowned. "I did what was necessary. The sacrifice had to be made."

To keep things civil, Skuld interjected, "Of course. We all must make sacrifices when necessary. All of us." She was looking pointedly at Keiichi when she said it. He kept quiet.

Troubadour went on. "I now have a new quest. One that is infinitely higher. I now seek the True Song!"

Skuld asked, "The True Song?"

"Yes! The Great Song. The Song of Creation. The Song of Inexpressible Love!"

Keiichi said, "And do you have even the slightest clue what that really is?"

Skuld glared at him. "Keiichi, stop it."

Troubadour was magnanimous. "My dear Madam Daitenkaicho, the mortal's question is quite valid. And I will answer him." He looked at Keiichi. "The answer, my dear lad, is no. I do not. Nor does any being at this table. And that is why I seek it."

Keiichi kept his mouth shut.

Chrono finally spoke up. "And isn't that so romantic? There is literally no higher song of love. He is seeking the greatest love song of them all! Such an incredible quest! Isn't he so wonderful?" She leaned on him, and he reciprocated.

Keiichi fought back his rising nausea. He said, "Well, that is certainly a high goal. How do you intend to reach it?"

Tourbadour sat up straight. "I am glad that you asked that, my dear lad. It is why I am here. You see, the Great Song of Love can only be sung by an exalted being, one that has the knowledge of Truth!"

"And who exactly has this knowledge?"

He looked down. "Sadly, there is no living being in Asgard today with such knowledge."

Oh brother. "Pity. I guess your quest is a failure then."

"No! It is not!"

"Oh?"

"Because! There is only one being that has such knowledge, such power, to unlock such a mighty song within our realm: An Aggregate Principal Representative."

"A what?"

"As I said, an Aggregate Principal Representative."

"Ok, I'm game. Who or what is that?"

Skuld spoke up, "It's a very high classification. The highest possible for any being within Asgard. It is far above that of a first class goddess. Only Tyr and Anzus held that rank."

Troubadour grinned. "And soon there will be another."

Keiichi looked confused.

Skuld got a little agitated. "Okay.. I see your agenda now, Troubadour. You are messing with powers way beyond you. That's not a threat, just a friendly warning. Be careful."

Toubadour said, "I know. I am." He looked knowingly at Chrono.

The girl nodded. "Let me explain. You see, Troubadour explained it all to me. Once the permanent Daitenkaicho is sworn into office, and has met all the qualifications, including having a veto-spouse, eventually that person becomes elevated to the rank of Aggregate Principal Representative for all of Asgard. That person represents all of us."

"Yes. And as her loving husband, she will give me the Tear of Truth. The tear from the most exalted being in Asgard. And it will unlock the Scroll of Truth. And then I will hear the Song of Inexpressible Love. And my life will be complete."

Keiichi literally did not know what to say. The guy just didn't get it. He could hear that song right now if he wanted. Anybody could. What a moron. He kept his mouth shut. Instead he said, "I see."

"Yes! And it is my quest. And I will not stop until it is complete!"

"Well, who are we to stand in your way."

Chrono stood up with Troubadour. "Well, we must be going. Troubadour is taking me to the park so he can play his latest composition. We need to get going or we'll be late for the scheduled recital."

Troubadour bowed to Skuld. He ignored Keiichi. "Farewell, Madam Daitenkaicho. We must depart and make beautiful music together." Chrono giggled. They left arm in arm.

As soon as the pair was out of earshot, Keiichi grumbled, "I don't understand why you keep inviting those two up here for lunch all the time. The guy is a complete fool."

Skuld folded her napkin. "My, do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice?"

"Very funny. You know darn well why he's buttering up Chrono. She's next in line in the succession."

"Yes, she is. At least Troubadour seems to want the veto-spouse position. Unlike some people." She had a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah, twist the knife."

She threw down her napkin. "C'mon, Keiichi. Am I really that awful? Do you really dislike me that much?"

He leaned forward. "Sigh, no. You know I don't." He held her hand. "We've discussed this a hundred times now. How many more times do I need to reassure you? You are a wonderful person, and I owe you so much. And you know darn well that I like you. But only as a kissing cousin."

"Keiichi.."

"I said I like you. Gosh, I even admit it to your face. Though heaven knows why."

"Very funny."

"Seriously, you've been doing really well. You don't lose your temper that much anymore, and when you do it's usually for a pretty good reason. And you are the Daitenkaicho: you're powerful, brave, beautiful, and, yes, even wise."

"You hesitated on that last one."

"I didn't use to say that last one at all, if you recall." He waited for her to take the bait. She didn't. He went on. "Now I do. Skuld, you are the right person for this job. And honestly, any guy would be lucky to have you."

She was blushing. "But not you."

"But not me."

"Ok. I understand. And thanks for the reassurances. I need them. Oh, I need to check you again. How is it going?"

"Great. No urges to shoot up."

"Good. But if it does, you tell me _right_ away."

"Don't worry, I will."

The was an awkward silence.

He finally spoke up. "So, you're not just bringing them up to the rooftop to pressure me into staying."

She frowned at him. "No. I invite my potential successor here to keep her in the loop. It's part of my official duties. It's required. And it would be irresponsible if I didn't."

"I suspected as much."

The frown turned into a smile. "You're always so observant. Yeah, I didn't ask for this job. But I'm stuck with it. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. You should know that as well as anyone."

"I do."

She waited.

He then said what she expected him to say: "I just don't like being railroaded. I know it's not your fault. You got railroaded too."

She looked down. Then she took a chance, and she went to the heart of the matter. "Keiichi, if I could promise I'd never hurt you, would you stay?"

Another pause.

"I might."

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Just don't do anything stupid. I mean it. Don't hurt yourself for my sake."

She grinned. "Like I'd ever do anything like that."

He said, "Yeah, heaven forbid."

Then he got serious. "Skuld, you are just like your sisters. And honestly, that is by far the highest compliment I can give you. The highest compliment that I can give to, well, anybody."

Then he pushed his chair back. "And that's exactly the problem."

He got up and left.

She sat there by herself.

* * *

Ere pulled off her safety goggles and whispered to Ex, "Wow. The bootstrap sequence actually worked. The core didn't implode. And after skipping so many steps, I thought for sure it'd go ka-blooey. Skuld is really good at this."

Skuld then pulled her head out of the main CPU core access panel and stood up. She was wearing her own safety goggles, with heavy electrician's gloves and a utility belt.

Ex then whispered to Ere, "Hey, check her out. Those goggles, gloves, and belt. And her height, her figure. Wow. She looks just like Agatha Heterodyne in those _Girl Genius_ online graphic novels. She even has the same unkempt hairstyle. Change her hair color and she'd be Agatha Heterodyne."

Ere giggled, "Yeah.. I see what you mean. She looks just like her Sparky Highness herself. Good call."

Ex whispered back, "Hmm.. does that mean Keiichi is Gil Wulfenbach, or is he Tarvek Sturmvoraus?"

"Neither. He's not a spark. No powers."

"So he's von Zinzer, then? The head minion?"

"No! He's not a minion! He's a love interest, but with no powers. He's Lars."

"But Lars died!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot.."

Skuld ignored them as she doffed her safety goggles and electrician's gloves. Then she beamed and announced to the pair of sysadmins, "Yep, that did it! The Mark II is up and runnin'. Purring like a kitten."

The two sysadmins yelled in unison, "Hooray!"

Skuld would have patted herself on the back if she could reach that far. "Yeppers. That last adjustment did it. It's online."

Ex said, "Wow, Skuld, that new cooling system is really impressive."

She smiled even wider. "Yeah, I'm glad you noticed that. Proper heat dissipation was the hardest part of my new design for the Mark II, to keep the central core from melting down with all that new additional processing power. Cooling is the most difficult design requirement for any large data center. Did you know that a server room this size can create its own weather pattern? And if you don't anticipate the resulting convective airflow, everything can go pear shaped real fast. That actually happened when the United States government built this huge new secret data center in Utah for snooping the Internet. When they first turned it on it quickly pumped out so much heat that the airflow pattern changed unexpectedly, and then, pfft, almost a billion dollars worth of mass storage got cooked. You always gotta pay real close attention to the cooling design when you build these suckers."

Ere said, "Your design is really elegant. And the processing power is incredible."

"Thanks. The Mark II will have amazing predictive ability. Much better than the Mark I ever had."

Ex said, "We gotta celebrate!" Ere nodded. They both looked at their leader expectantly.

Skuld said, "Uh, you two can party all you want. The whole sysadmin staff. Give them the whole day off tomorrow, go crazy. I'm still busy."

"Don't you want to join us? This is truly a time to celebrate. All of us. This is an important event. Historical, even."

"Like I said, forget it. Okay, it's up and running. Great. Wonderful. First item on the agenda: Print me a hardcopy of the latest Blue File. I want it on my desk in 20 minutes." Then she got up and left.

Ere and Ex were now alone in the central core. Ere said, "That is what this is all really about. It's all she cares about."

Ex replied, "Yeah, I know. She's crazy. She's deliberately going to read her own future. She'll lock herself in."

Ere sighed, "I know.. She is going to lose all of her free will. She'll become a prisoner to fate. It will be terrible. Knowing what is going to happen, not being able to change it. The inevitability of it all. What a nightmare."

Ex nodded and said, "Yep. She's doing it all for him. She's wrecking her future."

Her counterpart said wistfully, "Well, isn't it obvious? She loves him. I bet she always has, even as a kid."

"Naw, I heard she threw bombs at him."

"Hey, isn't that what little girls do when they have a crush on a boy? Push them down and stuff? She probably didn't even know her own feelings at the time."

"You think?"

"Yeah. Well, even if she wasn't in love with him back then, she's definitely in love with him now."

"I think you are right. And now she's going to do something really reckless and dangerous. I mean even by her own standards, this is pretty crazy."

"Love does that to people. Makes them do crazy things."

"Yeah."

"I just hope he's worth it."

"He better be."

* * *

Skuld sat at her office desk, alone.

The Blue File laid before her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she opened her eyes again.

She looked at the cover again. The cover read, **DANGER! LEVEL SEVEN SEAL. ATTEMPTING TO TAMPER WITH THIS SEAL WILL RESULT IN INSTANT DEATH.**

This was it. She picked up the Seal Remover.

And then something happened. A feathered angel emerged and appeared before her. She had a round face, with blond hair, and a pleasant smile. The feathered angel wagged her finger, tsk, tsk.

Skuld sighed, "Noble Scarlet, I know. I shouldn't be doing this. But I have to."

The blond angel put her hands on her hips. She shook her head slowly, no.

Skuld replied, "I don't have a choice! If I can't reassure him, he's leaving. Can you even begin to imagine the mess that Troubadour will cause?"

The angel gave her a look.

"What do you mean that's just my excuse?"

The angel tilted her head.

"Ok, I admit it. I love him. Maybe I'm rationalizing it. But it is still the right thing to do. It has to be done regardless. You got any better idea?"

The angel shrugged.

"Ok then." The angel returned to her body.

Then Skuld took another deep breath. Then she used the Seal Remover on the Level Seven Seal. She heard a hiss of air as the seal was broken.

She opened the Blue File.

She began to read.

She remained alone in that office for a long time.

* * *

Keiichi was sitting in a garden chair on the roof, munching on his box lunch. He was wearing sunglasses. It was another nice day. Every day in Asgard was a nice day. He looked out over the horizon. He could see that the greenery was starting to come back. The trees would take longer, but at least the landscape looked beautiful again.

Such a nice day. Every day was like that. It was always sunny and partly cloudy. Always. At first he wondered how all that plant life survived because it never seemed to rain. Later he learned that it rained only at night, after 11pm. "It rains only at night, just like in the musical _Camelot_ ," he thought. Heaven is indeed a lovely place. Yeah, he could get used to this.

Then he stiffened. He felt the hair on the back of his head tingle a bit. Hey, what? He sat up and turned around.

She stood before him.

"Skuld.. hey.. your face.. you okay?" He took off his sunglasses and jumped up.

"Keiichi.. hug me.. please..."

He did. "Skuld, you all right? What happened? Something really bad? It's okay. Just talk to me. What happened?"

"I did it."

"You did what?" He took a step back. He didn't let go of her shoulders.

He frowned. "Aww, no. You went and did it. That stupid thing. You did it, didn't you? That thing I warned you specifically not to do."

She was tearing up. "Yeah.. I did. I peeked. More than peeked. I read the whole thing."

"Read what?"

"My future. Our future."

"Hoo boy. You really do deserve a hug."

And he held her for a long time. She stared into space over his shoulder, lost in thought.

"Keiichi, I'm so sorry. You were right. I shouldn't have done that."

"Don't tell me."

She wiped her face and chuckled. "Right. You just read my mind. That's ironic."

"Huh? Whatever. Just don't tell me."

"Keiichi, I.."

"Do. Not. Tell. Me."

"I wasn't going to. I won't. As much as I can avoid it, I won't. You deserve that much."

"Good."

"That way, at least you get to keep your free will. I've lost mine."

"My free will?"

"Yeah. It's precious. You still have it."

"Wait.. you read our future, right? For both of us?"

"Uh-huh." She was still sniffling.

"Both you and me, right?"

"Yeah.."

"So how do you figure that I have any free will left now? You took away mine too!"

"Oh, no.. no Keiichi. I didn't. You don't know, see? That means you still have your free will. Your freedom of action. I'm the only one who's locked in. I'm trapped. Not you."

"Wait.. wait.. that doesn't make any sense!"

"Don't you understand, Keiichi? The concept of free will, how it works?"

"I thought it was pretty simple. You have choices or you don't."

"That's right."

"So how come I have choices and you don't?"

"Because I know, but you don't."

"Huh?"

"Don't you see? That is how free will works. It is information. I have it, you don't. God knows everything we will do beforehand, but _we_ do not. Or rather, you do not. So you still have freedom of action, from your own point of view."

"Uh.."

"Your point of view. That's the key to understanding free will. It's relative to your point of view, to what you know versus what someone else knows. God knows everything, but you don't."

"Ok. I think I understand now. You're saying that as long as you keep your mouth shut, I can still do whatever I want."

She sniffled again. "Yeah.."

"But just looking at your face, I can't tell it ain't good."

"Oh no.. Keiichi.. don't interpret it that way. It's.. it's.."

"You decide what to tell me."

"Keiichi.. it's wonderful.. and I'm scared.."

"Stop. I heard enough. Ok, you get another hug. That's your punishment for being stupid."

"Okay.. I deserve it.. Yeah.. this is my punishment.." She smiled and rubbed the tears from her face.

"Keiichi, I'm never going to be the same now. Ever again. The little kid inside me? She's grown up."

"Yeah. Still, you're handling it well. All these burdens."

"It's heavier than I ever realized." She got close to him. "Keiichi, there is no way I can do this alone. I'm not that strong.. Nobody is.."

"You'll make it. You'll survive. I can tell already. Otherwise you'd be bawling right now. Or you would have run away from me. But you didn't. You ran _towards_ me. And you're teary right now, kinda happy, but also kinda scared. That tells me a lot already. More than enough."

"Crap.. you're right! I'm giving too much information away! I forgot how observant you are! I'm messing up your life! I should leave."

"No.. don't. It's okay. We'll get through this."

"Keiichi, there is one thing I do want to tell you."

"Which is?"

She looked him right in the eye. "The reason why I peeked. I wanted to give you a promise. Not to hurt you by getting myself killed, or worse. I can do that now. I promise I will never leave you. I know that now, with absolute certainty."

"You know?"

"Keiichi, I will never, ever, leave you. Never. That is a promise that I now know that I can keep."

He mussed his hair with both his hands.. as if it wasn't already mussed up enough. He never combed it. "Hoo boy. Skuld, did you ever mess up."

She sniffled again. "Uh, yeah, I guess I really did.. I'm sorry."

"I don't know what to say to something like that.."

She absent-mindedly plopped on Keiichi's chair. "Tell me about it. We're stuck with each other now."

He sat in the other chair, across the table. "Stuck how?"

"Like superglue. I really messed up.. I'm so sorry.."

"Sigh. I should have left for home when I could."

She looked at him with hurt eyes. "Am I that terrible? Am I really that horrible? Is the idea of us being together such a nightmare to you? Just the idea of it? Do I really disgust you that much?"

He jumped up again and put his hands on her seated shoulders. "No.. you don't.. I've said it so many times. I think you are a wonderful person. There I said it. And I've said it before. And you have this huge burden, this duty, and you're doing it magnificently. You're great. You're wonderful. You're doing it all so wonderfully well."

She turned in her seat and looked up at him. "But Keiichi, what about me as a person? What do you really think of me? I'm pathetic. Look, back then I had a childish crush on you, a crush that I didn't even admit to _myself_. Instead I threw bombs at you. And now I've chained you down, with chains that are unbreakable. I've trapped you, just like I trapped myself. I'm a horrible person. I can't imagine what you think of me now."

"Whoa. Don't get carried away. What do I think of you as a person? Now? Today? Compared to back then? You've always been a tsundere. Back then you were mostly a _tsun_ , more recently you gained some _dere_. And today you're basically a nice person. And I really do like you. Sure, you're kind of abrasive sometimes, but I can deal with it. No sweat. But, Skuld, hoo boy, you really screwed the pooch on this one, kiddo."

"Very funny. You jerk."

"See?"

"Shut up."

"Case closed."

"Grr.. I hate you." She grinned at him. He grinned back. He knew her all too well.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

She thought, _Maybe this will work. Wait, of course it will. It's inevitable. Sigh._

_What have I done?_

She stood up and faced him. "I'm so sorry." She kept her hands at her sides.

He again put his hands on her shoulders. "Stop apologizing. It'll be okay."

She thought of something. "Hey, Urd's last secret communiqué, I think I understand it now. My mom tried to explain it to me, but I didn't really understand what she was saying to me. I understand it now. I really do."

"Hmm?"

"About Urd, when she was our secret mole after she was appointed the Acting Daimakaicho of Niflheim, after Hild supposedly died. She tapped out a coded message to the Fighting Wings Intelligence Branch, through one of the ley lines. It must have been when she was really drunk, so drunk that Hild was passed out inside of her mind."

"What was the message?"

"The message was three words, 'Emperor Londo Mollari'."

Keiichi scratched his head. "Wait.. wasn't that a character on that sci-fi TV show, _Babylon 5_?"

"Uh, yeah. You watched that TV show?"

"I watched it as a young teenager. The SFX are laughable today, but it had a great five-year plot arc. It was like it was planned that way from the very beginning. Actually, I think it was. So what did your mom tell you about that secret message?"

"Mom quoted the Londo Mollari character in that story, after he became the Emperor: _'When we first met I had no power and all the choices I could ever want. And now I have all the power I could ever want and no choices at all_.'"

She wiped a tear from her cheek with her sleeve. "Urd was talking about herself - remember what happened? But now that's me, you see? All the power, but no choices. That's me."

"Skuld.. you did all this for me?"

"Yeah.."

"You are such a brave, wonderful, determined, strong, beautiful, reckless, idiot."

"I know.. kick me."

He hugged her again. "I will. Later. We'll get through this. It'll be okay, right? I mean, you know it for certain, right?"

"Uh.. yeah.. I guess.."

"So how much detail did you read? How specific was it?"

"Uh, the Blue File only contains what it considers to be important events. Important relative to the great scheme of things, I think. It does leave out a lot. But the really big stuff? The truly important stuff? Yeah, it's all there.."

He said, "So, when does this marriage happen?"

She sighed, "Two weeks from tomorrow."

"Nice wedding dress?"

"It doesn't say. But the marriage of the Daitenkaicho is always a big deal. Big state wedding. All the hoopla."

Keiichi looked dejected a bit. "Is all that really necessary?"

She thought a moment then said, "Yeah, it is." She turned back to face him. "Keiichi, think about it. Our world was practically destroyed. We are starting over again almost from scratch, and morale around here is at an all-time low. We need something to cheer up the survivors. Maybe we should take advantage of this, you know? Show them a fresh and happy start." She made a small smile. "All girls love weddings. This will be a big one, a huge party. They'll forget about their cares for a day." Then she looked down. "We don't need to tell them the truth about how it came about."

She turned away again. "I forced this on you. You have to hate me. You're are always so caring, thinking of others first. You're just keeping your feelings to yourself because that's who you are."

"No, Skuld, look at me. Look at my eyes." She did. "See? I don't hate you. You made an honest mistake, that's all. Goodness knows I've made my share. I'm sure I'll make more and so will you. It's how we deal with our mistakes that matters."

"But what are we going to do about this.. arrangement?"

"We can talk more about that later." He then realized something. "Hey, what about the Judgment Gate? I thought that test had to be passed before a mortal and an immortal could tie the knot."

"Oh, right. One of the perks of being the Daitenkaicho is that I can waive that particular test at my discretion if I believe the circumstances warrant it." She left out the fact she could also make that test much harder for anyone to actually pass if she wanted, or even completely impossible. What Skuld did not know was that Tyr would have done exactly that if Keiichi ever had the audacity to try to take one of his precious daughters away from him.* But of course with the title passing to his youngest daughter it was now moot.

Keiichi held out his hand gallantly. "Here, take my arm. Let's go downstairs and announce to everyone the good news. I'm sure they'll be thrilled."

She did a last sniffle before trying to compose herself. Then she took the offered arm. "Okay.. I'm still sorry."

"I'm sure we'll talk more about this later." They started walking. "If my hunch is correct, we're going to have all the time in the world to talk about it."

_All the time in the world? That's a laugh. No, I won't tell him what else I saw in that file. He deserves his freedom, as much as I can give him now. The burden is mine. And I will bear it alone._

_And until that time? I'll make him as happy as I possibly can during the time allowed to us. Dang it. A marriage with a time limit! I'm just like my mother now. It's happening again! With the same guy! I can't believe it. The irony._

_I am a total, total, idiot._

_He thinks we'll be together forever like this. He doesn't understand, he really doesn't. And I can't tell him. What have I done?_

_I'll let him lead me and escort me downstairs. I'll follow his lead._

_Sigh, I really do love him. He's my priority now. Nothing else matters._

* * *

Eihwaz sat on her throne, the great ruby and skull throne of Niflheim. It was a replacement, created in a newly excavated chamber located several kilometers away from the original throne room. The original had been incinerated five months prior, along with several cubic miles of Central Niflheim, when that rotten bitch Skuld fired that Death Star superlaser, which she had previously narrowed and intensified by a factor of ten, right through a secret interdimensional tunnel that led straight into Hild's original throne room. That bitch.

Eihwaz read the secret communiqué that was handed to her by a courier, an Uruk-hai. Eihwaz noted with some satisfaction that it was the same Uruk-hai that had shot a lightning bolt from a hellfire lance right into Skuld's back and nearly killed her, during the infiltration attempt into Hell that was led by Skuld's powerful adopted mother, which had almost succeeded.

The message came from her spy in Valhalla. That man was such a fool. He didn't understand true power, not like she did.

After she read it, she grinned and then burned it. She then chuckled to herself as she absent-mindedly flipped through the web pages of the _Hello Kitty Hell_ sales webcatalog on her smart tablet.

She grinned wider.

Everything was going exactly to plan.

She patted her belly. Then she said softly to herself, "Hild, you dummy, starting Ragnarök was stupid. I tried to warn you. You ignored me. You got desperate. You got stupid. Now you're dead."

"And I got you beat. They caved on the doublet system, and I'm not her doublet anymore, so that bitch is dead meat. And I have her successor all lined up."

"I'll rule it all, everything. Well, indirectly. And I won't have to fire a single shot to do it."

And then she started a long, evil, maniacal, laugh. It was a laugh that would have put Doctor Evil to shame.

For she believed that it was certain that she was going to win.

But you see, Eihwaz had made a mistake.

She had made the same mistake that Hild had made.

She had underestimated something very important.

She had underestimated the willpower, the sheer determination, of the person who loved Keiichi Morisato.

* * *

**A/N:**

*This actually happened in the manga. See the _Oh! My Goddess!_ chapter 301.

* * *

**A/N:**

At this point in the story, you might have noticed that all the really important scenes between Skuld and Keiichi all seem to happen on this one rooftop. I am doing it deliberately. It is an homage to similar key scenes in _ef: A Tale of Memories_ and in _ef: A Tale of Melodies_ , collectively known as _ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two_. The rooftop is hugely important in those animes, as several key scenes with each of the five paired couples in _ef_ all happen on the same school rooftop in different time periods.

The human girl you saw at the beginning of this chapter is actually Yuko Amamiya, the main heroine of _ef_. Yuko re-appears in the epilogue of the prequel to this story, _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , in Chapter 28. I also gave her a standalone dénouement within the OMG universe in a one-shot fic, _Oh! My Angel Yuko!_

_ef_ is an awesome anime series, but it is very complex and tricky to understand. For my guide on how to watch _ef_ so that you can understand it, please see my A/N notes in _The Fifth Kind of Love_ for chapters 18, 25, and 26.

If you want the quickie Cliffs Notes version of _ef,_ then I recommend you watch the following three short YouTube AMVs (in proper order): [EF - A Tale of Memories - Trailer from Prologue (music part only)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUwr2tA8res) by Kokokakukeko, then [Ef: a Tale of Melodies - The Story of Yuu and Yuuko [AMV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztWAEldB5jM)] by XautoGaming, and finally [I'll never forget you... Yuko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnkE6xaZITw) by luisenrique223377. Total viewing time is only about 15 minutes. The order is important, and watch all three immediately in sequence.

(Note: The third video has been restricted in the United States to being viewed only on PCs - not mobile devices.)

The first AMV gives you the overall vibe of the series. The second AMV is totally depressing. Yuko is the most tragic romantic heroine in all of romantic anime. (And given _CLANNAD_ , _Kanon_ , and _Air_ , hoo boy, that is really saying something.) The teacher's sexual abuse of Yuko is horrific, and her childhood boyfriend is helpless to stop it, not even by running away together. Not recommended for anyone under 16 (a mature 16). The third and final AMV shows basically _the same horrible tragedy_ and yet is uplifting and transcendent, it soars with pure joy, with a soundtrack by Steven Curtis Chapman. The third AMV really nails down the emotional head-space that I am trying to get across in this story (and in it's prequel _The Fifth Kind of Love_ ).

* * *

**A/N:**

**You choose the path**. That is how free will works. It is information. Once you take a peek, it collapses the QM wave function and you're done. You're stuck with a live Schroedinger's cat or a dead cat. The Calvinists are right (God knows everything in advance), but they are also wrong, in the sense that you shouldn't feel fatalistic about regarding your path in life as being inevitable. The point is that you should not get hung up on the Calvinist notion of predestination, because from your point of view, it isn't, because _you_ don't know.

-HuuskerDu


	7. The White Angel of Death

**Chapter 7: The White Angel of Death**

Keiichi doffed his tux. "Ok, that wedding was completely over the top."

Skuld said, "It's how they do things up here. The Daitenkaicho's wedding is always a big deal. Doesn't happen that often."

"Good grief, you'd think you were Princess Kate. And that reception afterwards was crazy. Boy, those goddesses sure know how to line dance, especially Chrono. Wow, she was really good, reminded me of your stepmom. And when we finally left in that weird wedding carriage with the wyrms pulling, it was so ridiculous. I felt like I was in the end of the movie _Shrek_ or something. At least you let me wear a human style tux instead of that stupid traditional sculpted outfit."

She pulled off her white wedding gown. "It had to be a white tux. It had to match my secret wedding photo of the two of us that I saved all these years. I wanted us to look exactly the same as in that old photo. You didn't catch that?"

"Actually, I did. That was sweet. A nice bit of nostalgia there. Of course you're a bit more mature now than the young lady in that photo."

"Yep, that I am." She mussed her hair. "I'm just glad the park could handle the crowd size. We didn't have the amphitheater anymore." That was because the amphitheater was now a flat field of fused silicon glass, just like the palace of Valhalla.

Her mussed-up hair was now sticking out at crazy angles. "Of course the turnout was low for obvious reasons."

He sat on the bed and grunted, "Thank heaven for small favors."

"Help me untie the laces on this bustier."

"Wait.. done. I don't know how you could breathe in that thing. Too much padding up top, by the way."

"Hey, I needed the extra enhancement up there. You know how insecure I am about it."

"Insecurity, thy name is Skuld. You know, that whole ceremony, all that pomp, was really kind of silly."

She picked up a towel and sat next to him on the bed, then she wrapped it around her bare torso. "Look, it's a morale booster. We've all been through a lot. Everybody. This is probably the happiest event that most people around here have seen since the holocaust six months ago. They needed something to be happy about. We all did."

"I suppose."

She looked down. "I'm happy too."

He sighed, "Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Okay, it was fun. That kiss got quite a cheer. But look, I've said this before. I just don't like how I was railroaded into this."

"How many times do I have to apologize? I railroaded myself too."

"Yeah, that you did. You are a wonderful, determined, strong, beautiful, idiot. And now you're my wonderful, determined, strong, beautiful, idiot wife."

"I hate you." She grinned.

He smiled. "I know."

Before Skuld could respond, there was a double beep. She jumped up and checked the HD monitor. "Hmm.. a perimeter sensor just tripped in the Gate arrival area. But the Gate is closed. That's odd."

Keiichi stood alongside her. "I don't see anything on the monitor."

"Yeah, I know. But something is still there. I think it's invisible. Let me try IR." She fiddled with the controls. A vague humanoid shape appeared. She slammed a largish red button. Nothing happened.

"Dang it! Where's the CAP? Chrono you idiot, you sent _everybody_ to the wedding!?"

"Uh, Skuld..?"

"I'm going myself. Stay here!"

"Hey, wait a sec.."

She jumped into her combat suit. She was gone.

He said to himself, "Sheesh. I don't even get a wedding night." It was academic anyway. They had not even discussed it. And they already had made arrangements for separate bedrooms.

After all, he was only her kissing cousin. Technically she was his former step-daughter, being formerly married to her adoptive mother, though Keiichi never legally adopted her himself. And it was true that she was 679 years older than he was, and that she was now mature enough by any standard, both physically and emotionally, to enter into such an intimate relationship, and, indeed, as of today she was now legally entitled to do so as well, but still.

She made no secret of her feelings for him. But she respected him too much to act on those feelings herself. She promised herself she would not cross that line, at least not unilaterally. He would have to make the first move, if he ever did.

He told her repeatedly that he wasn't ready, that he would probably never be ready. He said that he was tired of higher powers running his life. So they would sleep apart. It was only a political marriage, a marriage of convenience. And she had told him that she would be satisfied with only that, for as long as he wanted. Permanently if necessary.

Keiichi started to fiddle with the monitor controls, trying to get a wider angle on the action. Then he saw what must be Skuld moving quickly into the frame.

Then there was an explosion of lights.

A firefight.

He saw her falling, with smoke trailing her lifeless body.

"Skuld!"

The distant booms echoed a minute later.

* * *

Keiichi was pacing back and forth like a puma in a cage.

Doctor Nie came out of the operating theater. He looked grim. "The injuries were quite severe. She is still unconscious. A coma. Only time will tell."

"But.. she promised.."

Doctor Nie raised an eyebrow, "Promised?"

"She said she wouldn't leave me.."

"Indeed. Well, technically, she's still here."

"She wouldn't do this to me."

"Perhaps it would be best if you considered _her_ state right now, instead of just worrying about yourself?"

"Huh? Oh, of course. I'm being selfish."

The doctor lowered his eyebrow. He said nothing as an assistant wheeled in Skuld's bed.

Keiichi sat by the bed and held her hand. "Skuld you idiot.. don't do this to me."

The doctor left without comment.

Keiichi sat there, holding her hand, for a long time.

* * *

He said, "Hey, you're awake."

Skuld tried to focus her eyes. Then she rasped, "How long..?"

"Almost two weeks. I've been here the whole time."

"See.. you care.."

"Don't press your luck. You're just my meal ticket around here."

"Still.. hate you.."

"I know. Don't talk.. you were intubated so your throat is probably really raw. I have some ice slivers in a cup. Here. Just suck on one at a time. Then I have some ice cream that I'll spoon feed you. Strawberry, your favorite."

"Mmm."

"Shush. Here."

He babied her the rest of the day.

* * *

Keiichi pushed her wheelchair up the ramp to the roof.

Skuld grunted, "Dang it. I feel like an invalid."

"You _are_ an invalid. Oof.. a heavy one too. You been gaining weight? Too much ice cream, I bet."

"I hate you so much."

"I love you too. Here are your daily reports. I took the liberty of running through them. Nothing significant. Chrono is still having trouble recruiting."

"Harumph. So what else is new."

He pushed her to the railing, and she looked over it. The major construction project on the western horizon was gaining shape.

She sighed. "I'm still insisting on promoting mortals. They can never be Valkyries, but they can fill the gaps on the Help Line and other places."

"Yeah. I'm glad you agreed with me on that one. The prejudice up here against humans is stupid. Pity what happened to Amamiya, though. That certainly didn't help matters with the natives."

"I know. I should have anticipated that she'd pull a Belldandy on me. She even told me face-to-face that she was spying on Himura."

"You said she was the best candidate. I first pointed her out, remember? I recommended her to you."

"Yeah, we can sure pick 'em. We both totally blew that one. We lost her in like five minutes! I'm tempted to revoke her angel status."

"She can't revert. She's a mortal. Wait.. how does that even work?"

"Nevermind. I won't do it to her. I'm too much of a softy."

He kissed her on the cheek. "That you are."

"I know. Story of my life."

* * *

She was finally out of the wheelchair. As part of her rehabilitation she took frequent walks. They often walked together.

One day they were walking together in the sylvan woods not far from the HQ. She held his arm and leaned into him a bit to support herself. He barely noticed the gesture, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. They slowly continued their walk side-by-side, looking exactly like the married couple they were.

It was a pleasant sunny day, but then again every day in Asgard was like that.

Then out the blue he said, almost in a whisper, "I miss her. I miss her so much."

She stopped walking. She knew he was talking about her Big Sis, that tomorrow would be the third anniversary of her death. "I know, I do too. I'm sorry."

He absent-mindedly let go of her hand while he looked up at the fluffy white clouds, talking almost as if to himself, "I watched her die. I held her in my arms. It still feels like it happened yesterday." His face looked wistful.

"I know. I was there, remember? You were catatonic for a month."

He turned his eyes back towards the Leader of Heaven. "Yeah. I don't think I ever thanked you for taking care of me..."

"You don't have to. It's what family members do, we help each other."

He looked down. "Thank you anyway. This happens to me on every anniversary. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I miss her too." Skuld felt his pain. She understood it better than anybody.

She kept to herself her own pain. She remembered the loss of her sister, later followed by the horrors of Ragnarök, how she lost her second sister, then she lost almost everybody she ever knew: Peorth, her mother, everyone. She operated mainly on auto-pilot during the whole battle, only to completely collapse as soon as it was over. Doctor Nie later told her that she almost never woke up ever again. For although she was not mortally injured during the battle, her will to remain among the living was lost. While she had lain unconscious in the infirmary it was Big Sis who had spoken to her in a dream to encourage her to reawaken and to lead Asgard to recovery.

She learned later that all the casualties who had reached the infirmary had survived, even the ones with grave injuries, and she knew why: Big Sis had spoken to all of them in much the same way. And so even in death Belldandy continued to help others and encourage them, for that was who she was. There would never be another goddess like her again.

Skuld had wanted to weep for her Big Sis but she kept her emotions in check. She had to remain composed, as she didn't want to add to Keiichi's burden. Instead she touched his shoulder in sympathy. "You've been through a lot. I'm sorry."

Silence.

She went on, "That's why you need to stay strong. Both of us. It's what she wanted, she told you that."

"Yeah, she did."

"I'm still sorry... She told me that too." One tear got past her emotional defenses.

"You have nothing to apologize for." He looked at her with a wan smile, then he gently wiped away her single tear.

"Honestly, I don't know if can be that strong, like she is."

He gripped her hand tightly, then he said "You will. You are." He made a point of bringing her hand close to himself.

She allowed him to lead with his gesture. Then she said, "Thank you."

He smiled at her.

More silence. After a dozen more paces he added, "You know, Skuld, you are becoming more like her every day. You're more encouraging and supportive, you're thinking of others first. It says a lot about your character."

She made a small smile. "Thanks for the flattery, I need it." They continued to walk down the park path.

"It's not flattery if it's true."

"Well, thank you for it anyway."

They continued to walk together. Eventually Skuld's not-yet-rehabilitated legs had become tired. To rest, they sat on a small exposed rock outcropping that was still warm from the setting sun. Sitting there they were facing a little round pond. The scenery was idyllic. They remained silent as they watched a flock of golden geese paddle through the water as the late afternoon sun glinted off their rippling wakes.

Her emotions began to bubble up. "Keiichi, you are the only family I have left."

"Hey.."

She drew her knees up to her chin. "I'm alone."

He sidled up very close to her. "I seem to recall that a certain very beautiful and brave goddess once told me, 'You are never alone.'"

She rested her head on his shoulder, "Yeah."

* * *

A couple months later.

Skuld was sitting at her desk and frowning. "Keiichi, we have a spy in our midst."

"How you figure?"

"Eihwaz was taunting me again earlier today, but she let something slip that she couldn't have known."

"Who is it? Does the Blue File say?"

"Obviously not. Or I wouldn't be so worried right now."

"Well it can't be that major then."

"Actually it could. The Blue File only reveals future events that are important in the opinion of the higher reality levels. Not our own. And even then it is usually only a short summary. It often lacks specifics."

"Oh. Any idea who?"

"I have a good guess. But I'm not going to do anything. Not yet."

"Why not?"

"Several reasons. For starters, I want to confirm who the spy is. Then I want to see what they will do next. Also some political reasons... I don't want to hurt someone. I can't say more right now."

"Wow, cloak and dagger stuff. Sounds like a John le Carré novel.. you know, _The Spy Who Came In From the Cold_."

"Exactly."

* * *

The crowd in the bleachers cheered wildly.

This was the day of the Grand Tournament. It was the major bidecennial sporting event between Asgard and Niflheim. Keiichi had watched the various sports contests, which had included horseback riding, archery, martial arts, and tug-of-war, all with keen fascination.

The rivalry was, of course, completely over the top. After all it was a contest between goddesses and demons.

Thrymr roared with victory after she destroyed the goddesses in the tug-of-war contest all by herself. The She-Hulk lorded over the defeated goddesses as they floundered around in the mud. Keiichi idly wondered what kind of material the rope had to have been made of to avoid snapping under the strain of such an immense force.

The final contest was the broom race. The score was tied, so this event would decide which side won the coveted Bifröst Medallion.

Eihwaz presented her younger sister, Hrungnir, as her champion for the final event. Eihwaz had recused herself because of her delicate condition. Skuld was just relieved that the Daimakaicho had not divulged her state to Keiichi yet. Doubtless she was waiting for the most opportune time to reveal it to cause the maximum damage.

Hrungnir was wearing her trademark spiked World War I German helmet and mask. Skuld had never seen her face without that goofy get-up. Then Keiichi saw Eihwaz give her sister what looked like a ridiculously pimped-out electric guitar.

Keiichi recognized it. "That's Glühende Hurz. Hild's personal riding broom. The one she used to race against Belldandy."

Skuld sighed, "That it is. And Glühende Hurz is the fastest broom anywhere, if you can even call it a broom. Keiichi, I don't stand chance. I guess the Bifröst Medallion goes back to Niflheim for another twenty years." She began to stand up.

He pushed her back down. "I want to race her."

"You're kidding."

"Let me."

"Keiichi, you're just a mortal."

"Look, you just said it was hopeless, right? So what have you got to lose? I wanna do it."

Skuld considered his request. She had to admit he was getting pretty good at riding Stringfellow, for earlier he had asked her to please stop picking him up to ferry him around everywhere all the time. He said it was demeaning. So to accede to his male vanity she had bequethed to him Belldandy's riding broom for his use as personal transport. Skuld had often smiled as she looked up from the rooftop to watch him tool around with it, going on many a joyride. And Keiichi was a natural racer. Hmm..

"Ok, go ahead. Just be careful."

Keiichi's eyes glittered like diamonds. He got up from the bleachers and approached the field.

* * *

The tournament was over, and the sun was starting to set. Skuld and Keiichi were riding Stringfellow together. She was holding his waist, laughing like a child. He sported around his neck a large blue medallion with six crystalline edges.

"Whooeee! That look on Eihwaz's face! It was priceless! Hah! Keiichi, you were amazing!"

He grinned so wide he almost sliced his head in half like a South Park Canadian. He landed Stringfellow expertly by the waterfall. Skuld unloaded the basket with the celebratory bottle of wine, wedge of cheese, and picnic cloth.

Together they ate and drank their victory meal just above the waterfall as they watched the sun begin to dip under the horizon.

Skuld raised her wineglass. "You know, Keiichi, you really helped everyone's spirits. After everything that's happened, that was a huge morale boost. Thank you. So, I want to propose a toast."

"A toast?"

"To the most wonderful mortal man in Heaven."

"Oh, c'mon now.."

She clinked his glass and drank.

Eventually bottle was empty. Skuld was a bit giggly. She nestled her head in the crook of his arm. The Leader of Heaven then sighed, "This is so perfect."

He agreed as he closed his eyes. "Mmm. Being in Heaven like this.. with you.. yeah, I guess it is."

A moment passed.

Two moments.

She leaned in and kissed him.

He opened his eyes and gently pulled away from her. Then he looked at the red orb low on the horizon.

"I'm still not ready. I'm.. I'm sorry."

She sat up. "I shouldn't have done that. It was just the wine. Forget it happened."

"It's okay."

"I won't do it again." She was determined not to break her promise to him.

"It's fine, really." He softly pulled her back under his arm.

She leaned back against his chest. Then she turned. "You sure this is all right?"

"Yeah."

She sighed and nestled herself again in that warm, safe spot. "Okay."

"I'm glad you understand."

_I'll wait. Even it takes forever. And it might._

Together they watched in silence as the sun finally died.

After the western glow subsided, the tipsy goddess curled up and went to sleep, snoring softly. He lay on his back on the picnic cloth and gazed up at the starry heavens, alone in his own private thoughts. He could have flown away with Stringfellow but he was too much of a gentleman. He wasn't able to fall asleep himself until a couple hours later.

* * *

It was still night. Keiichi opened his eyes. Even though he only had a few hours sleep he felt restless. He found that Skuld's arm had somehow ended up on top of his. He gently moved her arm without waking her, then he sat up on the ground cloth and looked around. He had left Stringfellow propped up against the tree.

Had. It was now floating in midair.

Keiichi approached it cautiously.

He heard a voice, "Stop hurting her."

Wait? Did the broom just talk? It did. He remembered that Belldandy had told him that brooms like this were actually sentient.

"She's waiting for you."

He peered at the wooden implement. "I know."

"I mean Belldandy, you idiot."

Huh? What?

"You heard me. She's not jealous, she'll wait. She wants you to stop hurting her sister. Skuld needs you now. They all do. So stop being such a self-absorbed twit."

His mind reeled. "Belldandy?! What? Hey! Where is she? Can I talk to her? Wait, tell me what's going on!" He grabbed the broom by the neck. "Talk!"

And then he woke up.

Skuld was sitting upright on the picnic cloth and was looking at him with some concern. "You okay?"

He plopped back on the blanket and let out a big sigh. _Is it true? Am I just being selfish?_

"Mmm?"

"Nevermind. It was just a dream." He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

She turned to look at the still-propped-up broom.

* * *

A couple weeks later, Keiichi had mentioned that his mother, Takano, was actually a powerful wind elemental named Mariah. She was the whirlwind, the heart of the hurricane, the heart of the F5 tornado, the heart of all such powerful cyclones and storms.

Skuld was fascinated by his disclosure. She quizzed him animatedly about his mother. That in turn made him curious about himself, to learn more about his abilities. Did he have any of his mother's whirlwind powers? Skuld believed it was possible. She tested him, but there was nothing. His mother was an elemental, so Skuld hypothesized that perhaps with his being a mortal, that his powers, if he had any, would only work down on Earth.

And so on Earth, in the park near the lakeshore, Skuld stood directly behind him with her hands covering his eyes. It was morning and the sun was rising in the east. She was whispering in his ear. "Focus your mind. Feel the wind moving. It surrounds you. It's everywhere. It's part of you."

"I feel it."

"Good. Now sweep it along with your mind. Imagine it swirling."

There was a gust, then a small vortex of wind. It surrounded the couple. Keiichi snapped open his eyes in wonder.

"Whoa! Did I just do that?"

"You did. That was great!"

"I wanna try it again!"

"Okay, go for something bigger this time." She leaned in very close and covered his eyes again.

He concentrated as she whispered into his ear, "Imagine a wider swath. Pretend you are flying along the arc in your mind. Define the path. Then push." It happened again. This time there was a great roar of wind as the vortex surrounded the pair, and this time it spanned a dozen meters in diameter, with roughly the power of a small F1 tornado. It was strong and violent, yet it somehow failed to harm either one of them.

Keiichi said, "Woah! Lemmie stop the rotation now.."

The vortex slowed, then stopped.

"Wow! That's so awesome!" He spun around. Their bodies were now pressed together. "Thank you."

She smiled at him.

A moment passed.

Two moments.

Three moments.

He gently kissed her.

She wanted to know his intentions. She closed her eyes and opened her lips slightly.

He kissed her again, this time with more passion. She knew.

He had crossed the line.

She opened her eyes and said in mock anger, "I still hate you." Then she closed them again and returned the kiss with the same passion.

"I know." He smiled at her.

Their feelings were now confirmed, though they would never forget the past. He gently brushed away a lock of her hair that lay between her eyes.

Keiichi wondered why he did it, why he crossed the line. Skuld loved him, Asgard needed him, he loved her, it felt right. But those reasons alone weren't sufficient. Nor was it because he knew the prophecy that they would be together for the rest of their lives.

What pushed him over the line was his realization that he was on a journey.

And at the end of that journey? Someone was waiting.

Skuld gave him a shy demure smile. The lock of hair dropped back down between her eyes. She tried to blow it away. It fell back. "You know, I think Big Sis might have even planned this, with Tyr's help, so you wouldn't be alone the rest of your life."

"You think?"

"It's possible. I wouldn't put it past her. You know how she cares about you. She wants you to be happy."

Keiichi pulled his head back. "Then why didn't you mention it earlier?"

"Because it would have sounded self-serving." She looked down. "You had to figure out your feelings on your own."

He started to gently play with her hair. "I get it."

"And.. there are some other things that I still haven't told you."

He stopped and looked at her again. "Such as?"

"Like how lonely I feel. I didn't want you to pity me."

"I already know. Since the war we've both been alone.."

"True, but that's not what I mean. I meant before that."

He looked at her quizzically.

"Keiichi, don't you see? You've known me for years. Think about it. Who was I?"

"A rotten selfish brat."

She gave him a look.

"Was, was! Not anymore."

"Humph. Nice recovery. Anyway, you know I've been a complete loner. I never had a childhood friend in Asgard, not a single one. Back when I was in Goddess Elementary School the other kids in the playground would never play with me. Nobody would."

He chuckled, "That's probably because you were tossing Skuld-bombs at them."

"Har-dee-har. I wasn't doing that. Well, not yet anyway. The point is, I've never had a friend outside my immediate family. None."

"What about Sentaro?"

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I even ended up chasing him away. People just don't like me."

"But now they do, right?"

"No, they still don't. They fear me or they're suck-ups. Power always isolates a leader like that. The other problem is that I'm way too scary now as the Daitenkaicho of Asgard, the Leader of Heaven. Impressive title, yeah, but it doesn't get me on any dates, you know? Everybody thinks I'm a total bitch who can kill anyone with the snap of my fingers. And you know what? They're not that wrong. If somebody really pisses me off, hoo boy, the angry bitch will come roaring out again, and everybody better _run_ for their lives. Especially after I get my final powers."

"Final powers?"

"Nevermind."

"Well, it's a good thing I can put up with you then."

"Yeah, you're the only one who treats me as a normal person even though you know what I am capable of." She was getting teary again. "To everyone else I'm the queen bitch who scares 'em all poo-less." She sniffled.

"Look, you've really changed. You've grown into a caring and loving person. I know that. You really are just like your sisters now."

"You think so? Belldandy got angry sometimes too you know. It scared Urd silly. And whenever Urd herself got pissed off, wow look out. In terms of anger-management issues I'm worse than both of 'em put together. And some day it will happen and I will become the nastiest thing this world has ever seen." She tried to fix his unruly hair. It was a hopeless task. "I don't deserve this. I don't deserve you."

The couple fell silent.

She shook her head. "I can't replace her. Nobody can."

"I know."

"I'm not her. Not even close."

"True. But I get it now. This is part of my journey. I want this."

 _Does he know? I have to be honest with him. I'm know I'm breaking the rules. I don't care._ She looked at him carefully. "So you know this is only temporary?"

"Yeah."

"You.. you do?" _He knows?_

"Sure. I'm a mortal. Life sucks and then we die. I think it is written down in a rulebook somewhere. I'm going to grow old, gray, and decrepit, while you stay young and beautiful."

"Keiichi.."

"Look, I know you don't care about that, so I won't worry about it either. And then afterwards? You'll send me off on my journey. You'll stay behind alone. Your duty is here. I know that. That's why there will be no mourning, right? No lonely regrets. You'll go on with your life. Promise me right now, or else I won't do this."

 _He doesn't know._ She sighed inwardly. _I change my mind. I won't tell him. Belldandy, you were right. He deserves to be happy._

She looked away. "R..Right.. No regrets whatsoever. I promise." Then she looked at him again, "I love you."

_Big Sis, this is not a burden for me. I will pay the price gladly. I'm so happy! Thank you! Thank you!_

He smiled. "And I've had feelings for you too. For some time actually. I admit it. I've just been holding back."

He touched her hair. "Okay, I guess I can spend one lifetime with you. I mean, it's inevitable, right? Hey, I could do a lot worse."

"I hate you so much."

"And I love you too."

He tried to move the stubborn lock of hair away again. It fell back. He chuckled. "Eh, you look better with it that way."

She started to giggle, then he did too. Then they both guffawed like a couple of idiots.

After the giggle fit ended they remained in their impromptu embrace. He finished wiping the tears from her face.

They remained embraced in silence.

She had a gleam in her eye. He missed it.

 _Let me try again._ She did something with her hands. He missed that too. _Argh, why is he so oblivious around girls?_ She shoved him down there in a certain way. _Oh c'mon!_

She glared at him. "Do I have to spell it out for you? I want my wedding night already!" He smirked. _Oh wait, he was only messing with me._ "Why you rotten little jug-eared fink.."

She pushed him away in an exaggerated display of mock disgust. She crossed her arms and turned away.

He walked around behind her and whispered, "Skuld, you are the most beautiful woman in Heaven.."

"Flattery? You bastard! You know how to push my buttons perfectly. Careful, I'll swoon on you."

"Better not."

"You're right, Chrono's the CAP today. Let's go to the temple."

"Yeah." They started walking.

A few minutes later she said, "Gan has kept the place up really well."

He said, "Gan? Hey, he was the Third Class Earth Spirit that was guarding Megumi's old apartment, right?"

"Yep. He's first class now, a quick promotion on my part. He runs the temple's defense system too. It keeps Eihwaz from spraying graffiti or vandalizing the old place."

Keiichi said, "Cool. I want to see that old place again. Let's go."

Skuld sent a mental command up to Chrono, who was flying as the Combat Air Patrol. She ordered her to cancel the CAP and return back to the gate, as the temple was already well protected. Chrono acknowledged her order and prepared to leave, but before she left, she telepathically sent a response that Skuld felt was rather unprofessional: "Woo hoo!"

* * *

"This is so weird... we're like an old married couple." He sat on his old tatami mat. He patted the mat next to him.

Instead she effortlessly nestled in his lap with her back pressed against him. She said, "Don't forget that I'm 679 years older than you, chronologically. Well, okay, maybe only 140 years or so subjectively, but I'm still robbing the cradle here."

"Yeah, seems like I have this habit of marrying cougars."

"Wolves."

"Whatever. I know this is totally new for you." He combed her hair with his open fingers.

She turned her head up and again gave him a demure smile as she looked him in the eyes, upside down. "I'm not as ignorant as you think."

From that position he started to give her a backrub on her bare shoulders. "You think? Your stepmom got trained by Peorth herself, and she was _still_ totally clueless."

She bent her head forward and down, giving him access to the back of her neck. He rubbed away the stress knots in her neck with his open palms, then he worked his way down her supple back.

When he reached the bottom, she closed her eyes and leaned into his bare chest, arching slightly. "I'm not her."

"Yeah, like you know anything."

She opened her eyes and again looked into his, upside-down. "You'd be surprised."

"What, you peeked behind my old desk drawer?" He pointed. "The one right over there, the second one? My old porn stash?"

She turned and looked. "No. Well, actually I did peek at your mags, heh. But I had something better."

"Like what? You stole copies of Peorth's stupid romance mangas?"

"No, something better."

"Spill."

"I watched you with my stepmom."

He was incredulous. "What!?"

"C'mon, we were living under the same roof. I was curious.."

"You didn't."

"I did. See that knothole over there?" She pointed.

He saw it. "Skuld! That is so wrong!"

"Why? I thought it was beautiful."

"We are so not having this conversation right now."

"I'm just telling you the truth."

"I am so embarrassed..."

"Whatever for? She was your wife."

"That's not the point!"

"Besides, it really helped me. I learned a lot."

"Hoo boy.."

She pirouetted on his lap so she was now facing him. "Want me to show you?"

"Uh..."

"There's something I've never seen that I want to try."

"Ok, do your worst."

"Don't worry, I will."

* * *

Afterwards Keiichi looked up at the ceiling in a languid torpor.

Skuld started to draw imaginary doodles on his chest with her finger. She said, "I know what you're thinking."

"Mmm?"

"You're thinking that I wasn't as good as her, your first wife."

What? He sat up and turned "Hey..."

"It's okay."

"No! Don't compare yourself like that! It's apples and oranges. You were great - you're just different."

She gave him a mock frown. "My, how diplomatic of you."

"It's the truth. And you know what? Honestly? I'm glad you're not a wild gymnast. She was a combat Valkyrie. It was just her way."

Then she sat up too. "Gee, thanks for the insult. Now I really do feel inadequate."

"Huh? No.."

"I'm a combat Valkyrie too, you know."

"Wrong basis for comparison. You see, I know that women often act the opposite of their external selves in bed. She was a no-nonsense military leader, always very guarded. So in bed she cut loose and went wild. At heart you're a crazy bomb-throwing nut, so in bed you're pretty relaxed. It was just her way, that's all. And frankly all the gymnastics usually left me pretty sore."

"Really? Then why didn't you just tell her to knock it off?"

He sighed. "Because she was really enjoying herself.. and I didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was my wife and I loved her, so I just went along with it."

There was a pause.

"Keiichi, don't be that way with me."

"..."

"Please. Always be honest with me. Tell me. Always."

"Okay. I will."

There was more silence as they lay back down to look at the ceiling of his old bedroom. Then he finally said, "You were wonderful. I feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world. And that's the honest truth."

"Thanks for reassuring me."

"I can do better than that."

He did.

* * *

The next day they were back in Asgard.

Very early in the morning, before Keiichi was awake, Skuld quietly put on her bathrobe and walked upstairs alone, in secret, to the rooftop of the HQ building.

She knew it was time. Because it was foretold.

She waited.

Then it happened.

She gasped. Her inverted raindrop sigil on her forehead glowed white.

She didn't know it would be painful. She dropped to her knees.

The glow stopped.

Two things had happened.

First, the person who was kneeling was awarded a new rank: Aggregate Principal Representative. The rank of an official, proper Daitenkaicho. A permanent one.

Second, the person who stood up now had a new title. And it was not the Daitenkaicho. Nor Air Marshal. Nor System Administrator. Nor Ambassador to Earth.

For she was given something more. Something else, something she had also expected, because it was foretold that it would happen on this date. She now received another title that was given to her from Above. It was a fifth title, her greatest title, and her final title. And she knew, with absolute certainty, that it was her real title, her True Name, and her True Purpose.

The person who stood up had been given a True Name.

A Power, an Authority, of the Second Dominion.

The White Angel.

The Angel of Death.

And at that moment the White Angel was given her orders. Orders that had come from a Higher Power. A mission. Her first.

And then she smiled. For she already knew that she would receive those orders. And she had a smile that was not a smile. A smile that was terrible to behold. The same smile that her mother wore, when she was the White Angel, whenever she had received similar orders.

The smile of a wolf.

And the irises of her beautiful brown eyes had changed.

They had turned yellow in color.

Like a wolf.

She left for downstairs.

* * *

Keiichi was concerned. "Skuld, what the heck happened? You're even taller now _._ And your face changed, I think."

"Really?"

"Yeah. A bit more angular. Not so round. And what happened to your eyes?"

"Oh.."

* * *

"Skuld, it's been five days. You still haven't told me what happened."

"Uhm.."

"And you're getting weird. Distant."

"Am I?"

"Yeah. You are."

"Am I?"

"See, that's what I mean. You just repeated yourself. Again."

"Oh."

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face him. "Stop it! Get a grip! It's not the end of the world!"

She gave him that look again.

"Argh! I hate that look! That sad wistful look! Or that other look, that knowing little smile! It's always those same two looks for five days now! Nothing else! Stop that!"

"I can't help it.."

"What is happening to you?"

"Remember mom? How she kept saying that she wasn't a person originally? She was just an abstraction?"

"Yeah. She basically got a personality. Became almost human. She became vulnerable. I would have never fallen in love with her otherwise."

"I think.. I think the opposite is happening to me."

"What?"

"I'm not a first class goddess anymore.."

"What are you then?"

"I'm now an Aggregate Principal Representative."

"A what?"

"An Aggregate Principal Representative. That's higher than first class. Only Anzus and Tyr were at that level. Now I am too. We had this discussion once before, months ago. Remember that luncheon with Chrono and Troubadour?"

"Vaguely.. I just remember he was an ass. So when are you going to bust him, anyway?"

"What? That's not important right now."

"So what does 'Aggregate Principal Representative' mean?"

"It means I'm gaining closer contact to Upstairs, to the higher reality levels. But it also means.."

He waited for it.

".. that I think I'm losing my humanity."

"You promised you'd never leave me. How is this not leaving me?"

She tried to create a smile, a real smile. She failed. Instead she gave him that same small knowing smile. "I'm not. I'm just a little spacy right now. I'll get better. I promise." Then she held his hands. "I won't leave you. Ever."

"I'm worried about you."

"Things will work out. Trust me."

"Like I have a choice.."

"Please don't take it that way."

"What's going on?"

"It won't be long now.."

"Long until what?"

"A confrontation."

"With who?"

"With the Daimakaicho."

"Crap."

"Don't worry. I can handle it. More than handle it."

"Okaay.."

* * *

Eihwaz said, "Give it up, Skuld. I'm going to win. You know that. My child is going to overthrow you and rule Asgard."

"No."

"Yes. It was foretold. You know the prophecy is true."

"Yes, I do. It is true."

"So there then. Give it up."

"No."

"Stop being such a stubborn bitch. You are being pathetic. More than usual, I mean."

"I am sorry, I think you misunderstand me."

"What?"

"The prophecy states, and I quote, 'Any child born from that union will overthrow Asgard.'"

"Exactly! And she's right here." Eihwaz patted her protruding stomach.

"You missed something.." Skuld started to glow.

"Hey.. what you are doing?"

Skuld's whole body started to glow, white, pure white. It began to grow in intensity.

Eihwaz became alarmed. "Hey! What is this? What kind of power is that?"

She pointed her finger at Eihwaz. "I'm so sorry, Eihwaz. I was given a direct order from Higher Up. I have no choice. When an order like this comes down I am compelled to obey it." Her face was filled with tears. "I am so, so sorry.."

"No!"

"Your masters attempted to steal a prerogative that did not belong to them, or to you. Keiichi's first child will indeed lead a battle during a revolution against me. That has been long predicted, as you well know. But you tried to usurp that prediction for your own ends. That cannot be permitted." Her pointed finger glowed white.

And Eihwaz felt the life in her womb quicken. And then stop moving.

"NOOOOOO!"

The White Angel then lowered her finger. "And so your own prophecy is now fulfilled, as there will now be no issue from your union with him. You brought this on yourself. I'm sorry."

Eihwaz screamed, "You bitch! I'm going to kill you! You hear me? Kill you!"

"You can't. You see, I have my own prophecy too. I read the Blue File. So I know the date of my own death. And it is not today. Nor tomorrow. Nor will it happen for a long, long time."

"EEEIIIIIIEEE!"

"I'm so sorry, Eihwaz. You forced this. I'm just following orders. Do you think this is some kind of _game_ or something? You brought this on yourself. Just like Hild did."

"I'm going to hurt you! Make it my life's mission! To destroy you! And if I can't kill you, I'll just kill what's most important to you! I'll kill him! Ludicrous gibs! I mean it!"

Skuld looked down with sorrow. "I know.."

"Good! He's a dead man!"

"And if you kill him, I'll kill you immediately afterward." Then Skuld looked up again. "That's a prophecy, by the way."

"I don't care! I'll find a way! You bitch!"

"I'm leaving now. Think about what happened. This was necessary. Don't be like Hild. You'll just end up destroying yourself, like she did."

"[bleep] you!"

"I tried to warn you. I now wash my hands of any further responsibility."

Skuld teleported away.

Eihwaz's face was insane with hate. "Dead! He's dead! He's dead, Dead, DEAD!"

* * *

This was the night.

"Keiichi, please make love to me tonight?"

He sat up. "Ok, that's an odd request. Like you ever ask me first."

She continued to lay there, with a sad wistful look. "Please?" She had a tear in her eye.

"Okay.. what brought this on all of a sudden?"

She gave him a small knowing smile. The tear remained. "If you love me, please?"

He became alarmed. "Ok, now I'm worried. What's going on?"

She remained silent. Her face changed back to the sad wistful look. The tear started to go down her cheek.

He gave in. "Okay, okay, sure." He wiped off her tear.

She sniffled, "Thank you."

"Which way, yours or mine?"

"I don't care."

"Wow.. you must be shook up. Obviously something happened. Just relax. Let me do everything."

And as the Blue File predicted, she conceived that very night, and so the prediction for that night came true.

And she knew something else: Her remaining days with him were growing very short indeed. That knowledge made her melancholy.

But it also gave her hope. It was what the Blue File omitted that was her greatest worry. There were two possible outcomes, one was wonderful, the other was terrible. But which would it be? She did not know. She only knew that in three weeks she and Keiichi would experience what might possibly be the greatest joy of their lives, or it might be the beginning of an endless nightmare. It would also decide the fate of the age.

It would depend ultimately on how strong he was. The fact that she couldn't tell him now filled her heart with sadness. It was a burden she knew she must bear alone, until the appointed time. She could only hope and pray.

For such was the price of love.

And the test of faith.

* * *

**A/N:**

In this chapter Skuld pointed out to Keiichi that Belldandy sometimes got angry too (although it was rare). We know that Belldandy can strike out in anger and nearly kill someone. How do we know? Because it happened in the manga _Oh! My Goddess_ , Chapter 252. Eihwaz said idly to herself, "Or should I just kill him [Keiichi] here?" She was just musing aloud. It was not an actual immediate threat.

Belldandy lost it and shot a deadly energy bolt that nearly impaled Eihwaz from behind. Eihwaz freaked out at her overreaction, "What's with you!?" Belldandy turned away so no one could see her face. She closed her eyes to compose herself. Then she turned back. There is a look on Belldandy's face that is _really_ scary. It's subtle artwork: her face is utterly expressionless, no smile. With that scary face she delivered to Eihwaz a deadly threat: "I won't do anything. But if anything happens to Keiichi-san.. it would be a different story."

Belldandy was using inhuman willpower suppress her urge to kill Eihwaz on the spot. Eihwaz then pulled Keiichi aside, leaned in, and whispered to him, "You're really going out with a scary goddess like this?"

Then in Chapter 259 Thrymr makes a direct threat against Keiichi: "I'll make you disappear." And for the very first time in 20+ years of mangas we finally see Belldandy's face drawn _angry_. She then proceeds to punch-out the She-Hulk.

You never, ever, want to piss off Belldandy.


	8. The White Angel of Mercy

**Chapter 8: The White Angel of Mercy**

_Two weeks later_

Keiichi said as they lay in bed, "Skuld, I'm glad you finally came back to humanity. I was really getting worried there for a while."

She replied, "Yeah, me too, actually. I really wasn't sure what was happening. I feel.. normal again.. I think."

"And your eyes changed from yellow back to brown."

"I'm really glad about that too." It was because yellow was the color of the eyes of the _ōkami_ , her adopted mother, when ready to deliver death to the condemned. Skuld was relieved that she had learned how to suppress her newly given death-dealing powers, to revert her eyes from yellow back to brown. And so from now on those deadly powers would only activate when she called upon them, so that her eyes would glow yellow only when she was ready to kill.

He snuggled her graceful neck. "Never leave me."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Mmm."

She rolled on her back and stretched in a sultry yawn, then she lazily arched her back upward. As she did so, she looked down her front. She frowned, then flopped back on down the bed and sighed, "Drat, still too small."

Keiichi rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding. You are still hung up about your bust size? C'mon, for crying out loud.. I don't care. I really don't."

"But I do. It's a sister-versus-sister thing."

"I've told you a million times, you are way hotter than Urd."

"You only say that 'cuz it's true."

"Harumph. You are still totally annoying. And totally crazy."

"That's why you love me."

"True."

"I only wish.."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

He raised himself up on his elbow. "Okay. Serious time. I know there's something going on."

"Like what?"

"I've seen it before, that one night in particular, about two weeks ago. What was that all about, huh?"

Then she raised herself up on her elbow as well. "What do you mean?"

"Sometimes you have an.. urgency. Like this won't last."

"You're saying I've been acting like how your first wife was with you."

"Yeah. Don't hide it. You literally begged me on that night."

"Look, you ordered me not to reveal any more stuff from the Blue File. I'm keeping my promise to you."

"C'mon. What's going to happen? If this was forever you wouldn't be acting this way."

"Keiichi, I'll say it again: I'm never leaving you. Would I ever lie to you?"

"Early and often."

"Hey! I don't!"

"Kidding."

"Okay, would I lie to you in bed?"

"Hmm. You have a point."

"That's better. Look, we are going to be together for a long, long time. That is a promise."

"I see. So I got my mother Takano's longevity after all.."

 _No, my love, that is not the reason._ Instead she said evasively, "I guess maybe you did."

He laid down again. "That's not so bad then."

She rolled on top of him. "No, it isn't."

Afterwards she stared at the ceiling while he slept. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated. And in her mind she spoke a silent a prayer.

_I'm so afraid for him. If things go wrong I don't know how I will be able to live with myself. Please protect him, please._

It was heard.

Then she opened her eyes again.

She whispered very quietly, "Thank you."

* * *

Skuld was sitting at her desk with her hands clasped in front of her. She said, "The spy received new orders. I can't allow it. I'm busting him."

Keiichi was leaning back on his own chair, on two legs, in a lazy reverie, almost half asleep. He was startled by her declaration, and the chair fell forward flat again. "Huh? The spy? I forgot about that."

"You shouldn't."

"What do you mean?"

She looked right at him. He did not notice the slight yellow glint in her eyes. She then recited the speech that she had carefully practiced alone on the rooftop. Her face was deceptively calm and blank.

"Keiichi, I love you. You are my veto-spouse. That is literally the most trusted position, the most important role, the highest responsibility, that any person can have in Asgard. Higher than even me. That is you. That is your role. Your purpose."

"Skuld, I.."

"Why have you been doing this to me? Why have you been betraying me all this time?"

He froze. Then he looked down.

"I'm so sorry.."

"Okay. I am no longer the biggest idiot in this marriage."

"No.. no you're not.."

"I still love you. Look, I've known about it for a long time. Eihwaz must have done a real number on you. Wouldn't be her first."

"Yeah, that she did."

"Okay, I know you're not injecting the shooters. So she must have got you addicted to something else. What is it?"

"I'm so, so sorry.."

She got up, and he stood up as well. She hugged him. "It's okay. Nothing is going to change between us. Just tell me. You lapsed. It happens to addicts a lot. Just tell me, how did she do it?"

"I'm not addicted to anything. Wait, yes I am.."

She waited.

He wouldn't say.

She held him tightly. "Just tell me. Nothing will change between us. Remember I'm never leaving you, no matter what. Guaranteed."

"I know.. it's not that."

She pushed him away in anger. "Then tell me!" Her anger continued to build. "Stop pussy footing around, you idiot! Talk!" Her irises flamed yellow and her body began to glow. A white glow.

He stumbled back in real, genuine, fear. Fear of the wrath of the White Angel of Death.

She instantly softened again. The glow stopped and her eyes dimmed. "Oh no! I snapped at you. Keiichi, I promised you I wouldn't do that to you ever again."

"That was really, really scary..."

"I'm sorry!"

"No, I deserve your anger."

"I'm so sorry! I'll never do it again." She knew that she needed to control herself. If she was not careful, she could inflict death with just a thought. For such was the power of the White Angel.

He said, "No, you have a right to be angry with me. You didn't chain me, I chained you. I'm the one betraying you for another. And you're stuck with me for life. Even though I've been faithless to you."

Huh? "What?"

"I love her.."

What? "Oh crap. She got a love potion into you, or something worse. Eeewww. That is exactly her style. I shoulda caught that. That bitch bagged you before. C'mon, Keiichi, that little 'Hello Kitty!' tramp is just messing with your head. Snap out of it. Maybe I should take you to Doctor Nie.."

"No! I don't love Eihwaz! Are you crazy?"

"Well I'm always crazy, you know that." She smiled. "Ok, seriously, who?"

He wouldn't say.

Who else could it possibly be? Wait.. That's impossible..

It was the only explanation for his behavior. For his betrayal. Skuld froze. No..

Then she said the word.

"Belldandy?"

He lowered his head.

She was shocked. "Keiichi.. I don't know what to say."

"I love her! I always have! I always will! I'm so sorry. I'll always love her. More than you. And now you're chained to a faithless husband. Forever. You're stuck with me."

"You.. you saw her somehow. Or you think you did."

"I did! I really did!"

"Okay.. relax. I believe you."

"You must hate me. For real, I mean."

She approached him again. "Look. I know exactly how you feel about Big Sis. I always have. When I was young I was jealous. That's why I fought so hard to keep you two apart. It was because I had a childish crush on you. I didn't even realize it myself at the time. So I'll tell you exactly the same thing that my mom told you: I know that you love Belldandy more than me. Even now. And you always will. I know it. It's true, I've always known it, and I don't mind. That's who you are. I understand."

"You do? Even though I betrayed you?"

"Keiichi, she's dead. Belldandy is dead. You'll see her again in the True Heaven. She told you that. But for now, she's dead."

"No she's not! She never died!"

Huh? "I don't understand."

"Your mom explained it to me. She told me on our wedding night. Belldandy always existed in some weird higher reality level, the same place that Anzus, her mother, dwells. They're both incredibly powerful beings, far beyond any of us, even you with your Principal Representative title thingy, or even your really scary White Angel killing powers. Belldandy and Anzus both somehow project their physical bodies from waaaay up there. When Belldandy 'died' all that happened was that she lost her human form down here, but she's still up there somewhere! She's alive!"

"Uh, well, I know that. That she's alive way up there somewhere. Well, I didn't know _that_ exactly, what you just told me, but did I know she's waiting for you to join her up there. You told me that yourself. Mom did too. When you die you'll join her up there. Belldandy told you that."

"She did."

"OK then. Honestly, if I was you, I'd be looking forward to it. Us goddesses, us angels I mean, like your mom, Chrono, and myself don't get that honor. Only certain mortals do. You're very privileged."

"Yes, but..."

"That is besides the point. It still doesn't explain how you got conned into being Eihwaz's spy. What did Eihwaz do to you exactly? Please tell me."

"Eihwaz has something."

"What does she have?"

"Some kind of artifact, an object. She said it's very powerful."

"What kind of artifact? Describe it for me."

"It's a small orb, transparent. She called it the Summoning Crystal."

"The Summoning Crystal?"

"Yeah. Eihwaz said it can call her forth. Belldandy. And it does! She's semi-transparent."

Skuld understood and nodded. "Ah, I see. It reproduces Belldandy's projection ability. Probably artificially."

"Yeah, it's only an image. Not high resolution even. Her image is only a few inches high. But it is _her_. I talked to her. It's really her. She's not fake. I'm certain of it. I spoke with her!"

"And what did Belldandy tell you from this Summoning Crystal?"

"She said for me to stop talking to her.. to go back to you.."

Oh Keiichi. You really did pick up the Idiot Ball in this marriage.

"She did?"

"But it is _her_! I can see her! Talk to her!"

"Yeah, and it's wrong for you to do that. You're doing something you weren't meant to do. At least not yet. That is exactly what she told you. Probably repeatedly. She asked you to stop it."

He broke down. He cried. "It's her.. it's her.."

She cradled his head. "Oh, Keiichi.. You poor child.."

"It's her.. It's her.. I can't stop seeing her, talking to her.."

She held his head and stared into his tragic eyes. "Stop it! Stop and think! Stop thinking about yourself! Think about her! Think about how you are distressing her! Hurting her! Stop being so selfish!"

"Selfish..? I love her."

"I know you do. And if you love her, you'll _wait_. Until the proper time. Think about what you are doing to her now. Right now. The way things are going, you'll have to spend the first half of eternity with her just apologizing for your actions!"

"I.. I didn't think of that."

"Keiichi, eventually you will spend the rest of eternity with her. But not yet. First you get to go on a ride around the block with me. Okay?"

She left out the fact that 'around the block' would actually be several ages long. But compared to eternity? Yes, it was. Most of it would be experienced while going up the transfinite ladder of realities, so the notion of time would be a relatively slippery concept anyway.

He said sheepishly, "You don't hate me?"

"Of course I do, silly. I always hate you. I say that to you almost every single day: 'I hate you.' 'I hate you.' Heh."

He understood. He chuckled, "Nothing changes?"

"Nothing changes. Just wait, like Belldandy asked you to do. That's it."

"Okay.. I will."

"That's better. Dang, that 'Hello Kitty!' bitch is quite the little sneak. She's as bad as Hild."

"I'm sorry."

"I've already forgiven you. We are now co-idiots in this marriage. Let's just call it even, okay?" She hugged him again.

"Okay.. I'm so sorry."

"I've already forgotten it."

There was a pause. Then she broke the embrace and said quietly, "Keiichi.. uhm.. can you please do me a favor?"

"Anything. You know that."

"Keep spying for her. For Eihwaz. Just for a little while longer."

"What?"

"Keep spying for her. And accept her new orders. At least appear to. Now pay attention carefully..."

* * *

Eihwaz glared from within the confines of the trap that was invisibly engraved on the rooftop tiles. She said, "That was pretty clever, Skuld, getting Keiichi to convince me to come up here, to deliver to me in person a stolen copy of the Blue File that I asked him to get for me. I can't believe I fell for it."

"You got too greedy."

"And you knew I intended to kill him eventually, but the Blue File was just too tempting for me to resist."

"That's right. And now you're caught."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

Eihwaz pulled something out of her pocket. She said, "See this? It is a Summoning Crystal."

Skuld said, "I already know all about it."

Eihwaz was surprised. "You do? Huh? You do. Hmm. So. He confessed to you."

"Yes, he did."

"Really? He actually told you that he loves Belldandy more than you? You got him to confess his deepest secret, his worst weakness, to you? I'm impressed. I never thought he would ever do that. Not do you of all people."

"He did. It's because he loves me."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense. He loves Belldandy more than you. I'm certain of it. He'd never tell you."

"That's exactly why he told me. It's because we both have the fifth kind of love within us."

"Sigh.. you and your 'fifth kind of love' crap. It's all [bleep]. It just means you are weak. Weak! It just means you both are slaves, to Him!" She pointed up. "You're just submitting like good obedient slaves, like dogs, like a dhimmi!"

"Eihwaz..."

"You want to know the truth? It isn't about love. It's all about power! Everything is about power! Not love, power! He is not love. He just says that. He is really _power_. And I have it, right here! As much power as it is possible to get down here! This Summoning Crystal, it is the ultimate power!"

"Shut up. I know. That crystal lets you contact beings that dwell in higher reality levels. Say, I wonder, where did you get that thing? There's no way you could have manufactured something like that down here. Someone or something gave it to you. From somewhere above. How'd you get that?"

"Ain't telling."

"Whatever. I was just curious about it's design. My engineering background, you know."

"The Summoning Crystal also has another ability."

"Which is?"

"It can block your communication access to higher reality levels. Just like this." Eihwaz then pushed a button on the device.

Skuld suddenly felt like someone had cut the strings to her body. She collapsed on the ground.

Keiichi was hiding in the stairwell. He ran to her. "Skuld!"

"Keiichi.. get out.. of here.."

Then Eihwaz stepped forward. She announced, "And oh look, I just broke out of your trap. Lah dee dah!"

Keiichi tried to hold her hand. "Skuld, what happened!?"

She pushed his hand away. "Not.. sure.. lost my powers.. leave.. go.."

Eihwaz laughed, "That's right! You no longer have your spooky White Angel death dealing power. And your Aggregate Principal Representative back channel is now gone too. You're just Skuld now. Plain old Skuld. All you have now is your own intrinsic power, which is no match for my own."

Keiichi yelled, "Eihwaz! Stop it!"

"Why should I?"

"Just.. stop it! Please!"

The Daimakaicho then announced, "I have another prophecy for you. For both of you. Pay attention."

Skuld tried to sit up but fell back. She rolled on her side to plead with her tormentor. "Eihwaz.. please.. don't.."

She ignored her plea. "And here it is, Skuld: Your daughter will rule Niflheim and be sung as the great Daimakaicho-sama."

Keiichi said, "What? Skuld, we're going to have a child?"

Eihwaz ignored him and looked at Skuld. Her eyes were aflame with hate. "Yes. Since you murdered my daughter in my _womb_ , so she can't rule Heaven, instead _your_ daughter will rule Hell. And she will be the greatest Daimakaicho in history!"

Skuld said weakly, "No.."

"Payback's a bitch, ain't it?"

Keiichi said, "Eihwaz, please, just stop it."

"Shut up." Then she faced him. "Oh, and here's more payback." She pointed her finger at Keiichi. He started to rise slowly into the air as he struggled helplessly.

Eihwaz's face was one of pure unrelenting hate. "Keiichi, I'm a good sport, so I'll make you a simple offer."

She took a step towards his struggling form as he floated before her. He gasped and writhed as Skuld looked on helplessly.

"And here is my offer to you: If you deny Him and His Son, right now, I will let you live." Then she glanced over at Skuld before turning back. "Otherwise I will rip your body apart while your wife watches, and your child will grow up without a father."

With supreme effort Skuld managed to sit up. "Keiichi.. don't.."

He didn't need to heed Skuld's words, for he already knew what his answer would be. He knew the Truth, for Belldandy had shared it with him. She would never deny Him, no matter what. So neither would he.

"Never."

"Last chance. Deny Him."

Skuld picked herself up unsteadily. "Eihwaz.. please.. stop.."

Keiichi stared down the Daimakaicho. "No. And go to Hell."

The demon shrugged and turned away, "You first."

Keiichi's body exploded.

Skuld was ready. She immediately blood-bended Eihwaz. The Leader of Hell disintegrated in a red mist. No doublet system meant that Skuld herself remained untouched.

Skuld then stumbled to Keiichi's remains. She found his head, picked it up, and pressed its forehead against her own. The raindrop sigil on her forehead began to glow white.

* * *

Keiichi felt.. strange. Was this the afterlife? It sure seemed like it. He tried to look at his own body, but he couldn't see anything.

What was he seeing? He saw the rooftop. It was bouncing around, as if he was watching a movie with a shaky-cam. Then he saw.. he saw..

His own face. His own head. By itself.

He was dead?

No.. No..

Then he heard a voice.

{ Skuld: Keiichi, please calm down. You're okay. I'm right here. You're fine. You're with me. }

He tried to spin around but he couldn't. And where was that voice coming from?

{ Skuld: I got you. I'm right here. }

The voice was Skuld's. She was speaking to him, but the her voice sounded strange. It had an echo. And he could not discern the direction.

Wait, she must be dead too! Eihwaz must have killed them both! They were both spirits! Of course, that was how they would stay together. But not like this.. not like this!

{ Skuld: Settle down. I'm not dead. And neither are you. Just relax. You're going to be fine. }

What was happening?

{ Skuld: It's okay. The Bond went perfectly. I knew this would happen, the Blue File. So I was ready for it. I've been sharpening my skills with the Bond spell for weeks. I think I got over 90% of you. Maybe 95% or better. That's practically perfect. }

Help! What was going on?

{ Skuld: Keiichi, just try to talk normally. It will be subvocal. I can hear you, but nobody else can. }

{ Keiichi: Help! }

{ Skuld: Calm down. You're inside my mind now. You're perfectly safe. As safe as you ever possibly can be. Nothing can harm you now. }

{ Keiichi: But I'm dead! }

{ Skuld: No. Well, technically, your body is. }

{ Keiichi: What? }

{ Skuld: Settle down, I got you. Remember what happened to Belldandy? She was stuck inside your head? This is just the reverse. Now you are inside of mine. Only a first-class Valkyrie in the Fighting Wings can cast the Bond spell at the moment of death. You remember the Bond spell? How its purpose is to save the soul of a fighter who, in the opinion of the first-class Valkyrie, should not have died in battle? Well, I'm still on the roster as the official Air Marshal of the Fighting Wings, so I can still cast it. Chrono is still only Acting Air Marshal. That's why I haven't promoted her to replace me yet. I needed this ability a little while longer. }

{ Keiichi: I can't believe this. }

{ Skuld: It's okay. I got you. You are going to be fine. The transfer went as smooth as it possibly could. }

{ Keiichi: Uh, it did? }

{ Skuld: Yes. Oh, Keiichi.. I was so worried this wouldn't work. I was scared I'd hurt you, and I couldn't tell you. You see, the Bond spell is only intended to be used between two minds of the same rank. Your mind was inside a half-mortal brain and I'm above first-class, so we might not have been compatible. For that reason I was terrified of the possibility that the transfer would gravely damage your mind, that you would go insane, or go catatonic. You could have become a mental vegetable dwelling inside my mind, and I'm not sure I could have kept on living knowing what I had done to you. But it worked! Your mind is intact. You're safe and sound, my love. I'm so relieved and happy. We are together now, and you are going to be fine. }

{ Keiichi: I guess I feel okay. Hey, if you knew all this beforehand why didn't you warn me about it? }

{ Skuld: C'mon silly, work it out. }

{ Keiichi: Hmm. If you had told me then I wouldn't have let you take the chance on your hurting yourself like that if it didn't work. I'd have stayed away from you or hidden myself. Oh, wait, then Eihwaz would have tracked me down and killed me anyway. I guess I understand why you couldn't tell me. }

{ Skuld: I did it because I love you. I knew you would never deny Him. You were doomed, and there was no other way for me to save you. }

{ Keiichi: Skuld, you are absolutely crazy. }

{ Skuld: Yeah, you're right, I admit it. Love can make a girl do nutty things. I was desperate. }

{ Keiichi: You couldn't stop her? }

{ Skuld: I know.. I know.. There was no other way for me to save you. It was going to happen no matter what. The Blue File said that Eihwaz was going to kill you this week. It also said that if I prevented your death somehow, she'd kill me instead and then she'd just kill you anyway, only a few days later. So for your sake I had to do it. I love you so much. And now you're still alive, with me. }

A pause.

{ Keiichi: You know, this is still kind of a shock. }

{ Skuld: I'm sorry. Give it time. The important thing right now is that you're safe. }

{ Keiichi: Wow, where is this place.. it's so big.. it's endless.. }

{ Skuld: Ah, right. I suppose I should explain. Keiichi, you are now living inside the mind of an Aggregate Principal Representative. I have about 100 times your mental capacity, roughly. Obviously I don't use it all. Or even a tiny fraction. At least not yet. And no jokes about that! }

{ Keiichi: I'm not joking about anything right now. It's so big. These.. intersections, these bulges, with lights shooting in and out of them, like a spider web. What are they? }

{ Skuld: Those are nodal junctions within my mind. They represent my major personality engrams. They are key aspects of my personality, my memory, and my knowledge. Some of them are very, very, personal. Basically my soul. You can access anything in my mind, my soul, in those nodes. Any memory I have. Any feeling. }

{ Keiichi: Skuld.. }

{ Skuld: And with practice, over time, you will even be able to use those junctions to simulate what I might think about something, before I do. }

{ Keiichi: Skuld.. It's like you're naked. Your mind is naked before me. }

{ Skuld: Yeah, it is. I knew this was going to happen. That's why I've been so open and trusting with you. It didn't make any sense for me to hide anything embarrassing about myself from you, you see? I knew you'd soon know all my embarrassing secrets anyway. }

{ Keiichi: And what about.. me? }

{ Skuld: Uh, yeah. It works both ways. Sorry. If you have anything embarrassing, let me know and I'll try to avoid those nodes of yours for now. But eventually I'm gonna learn all your deepest secrets, even if I'm not actively trying to find them. It'll leak. Sorry... }

{ Keiichi: Crap. My thoughts about Belldandy.. }

{ Skuld: Relax. I already know you love her more than me. We talked about this, and I'm cool with it. And I know you have fantasies about her. Uh, yeah, those kind, ever since she unlocked your _eros_. I know that I'll feel creeped out for a while. But I'll deal with it. Don't worry about it. }

{ Keiichi: I'm so embarrassed. }

{ Skuld: It's okay. I love you. I love you so much. We are going to become so close. It's going to be beautiful. We'll know each other completely, far more than we do already. We will understand each other perfectly, and we will become as close as any two lovers can ever possibly be. As close as two souls can ever become, for the rest of our lives. It will be so wonderful. }

{ Keiichi: Wow. }

{ Skuld: Let me try something.. }

{ Keiichi: Hey, what are you doing? Mmm, it feels good. }

{ Skuld: I'm stroking your mind. }

{ Keiichi: Ooh. That is nice. Keep doing that. }

{ Skuld: Heh. You're such a perv. }

{ Keiichi: Very funny. }

{ Skuld: Just wait. I got some totally fun mental moves I've been dying to try out with you. I've been looking forward to this one in particular. Lemmie try it.. }

{ Keiichi: Whoa! Yow! }

{ Skuld: Heh, It worked. }

{ Keiichi: So how do I do this.. let me see.. }

{ Skuld: Oh! Stop it! Oh! }

{ Keiichi: That was payback. }

{ Skuld: I hate you. }

{ Keiichi: Kiss kiss. }

{ Skuld: This is going to be so fun! }

And so it went.

* * *

Some time later.

{ Keiichi: Wait.. Wait a second. That really big node. I touched it. You.. you are pregnant with twins? }

{ Skuld: Uh, yeah. }

{ Keiichi: Twins! }

{ Skuld: Yeppers. Remember when I begged you to make love to me that one night? }

{ Keiichi: Yeah, I remember that really worried me. Like there was a time limit to our relationship. I didn't know that time limit was _me_. }

{ Skuld: Well now you know. Now you know why I was so insistent that night. }

{ Keiichi: Twin girls.. wow. }

{ Skuld: Fraternal twins. Not the same. }

{ Keiichi: Wait.. it's connected to that really big node.. the biggest one. }

{ Skuld: Careful. That's my memory copy of the Blue File. You might want to avoid that one until we get more comfortable with each other together in here. I'll walk you through that node when I think you're ready. It's pretty heavy stuff. }

{ Keiichi: Okay.. I already get the sense it's huge. Something major. }

{ Skuld: It is. It's wonderful, but it's kind of scary too, but in a good way. Just wait for now. }

{ Keiichi: Okay. I trust you completely. }

{ Skuld: This is so wonderful. We're going to be the best Daitenkaicho now, with both our minds working together like clockwork, and at such high speed, almost instantaneously. We are so going to rock at this job. }

{ Keiichi: Am I still your veto-spouse? }

{ Skuld: Of course. You can veto anything, just like before. }

{ Keiichi: Okay. Wait.. whoa! What the heck was that.. thing.. that flew by? }

{ Skuld: Oh, that's Noble Scarlet. You'll get to know her soon enough, but I gotta warn you, she's kind of mischievous. }

{ Keiichi: That's just great. It's getting crowded in here. }

{ Skuld: Naw, she's basically a reflection of myself. Hmm, I wonder if Noble Scarlet is going to pick up some of your personality traits now that you are in here... }

{ Keiichi: Really? I guess she might. Nothing would surprise me at this point. }

{ Skuld: Heh. Oh and after you settle in, and if you are a nice boy, I might even decide to let you borrow my body. Heck, you can take control and walk around as me, use my voice. And with some practice, nobody will know the difference. It'll be amusing for me to watch. }

{ Keiichi: And your powers? }

{ Skuld: I can loan you my innate powers, like water bending. But my higher powers, like my finger-of-death, don't come from my mind. I get those powers externally, so I cannot loan you those. You don't get to use my finger-of-death. Sorry. }

{ Keiichi: Shudder. I'd never want that power anyway. Never. }

{ Skuld: But you can prevent me from using it. }

{ Keiichi: Oh? }

{ Skuld: You can prevent me from killing someone. You have the Mercy veto. }

{ Keiichi: So I can show someone mercy, even if you've been ordered to kill that person. }

{ Skuld: Right. That's your choice. It will depend on the situation, I think. But ultimately it will be up to you. To save someone from death. }

{ Keiichi: That's a heavy responsibility. }

{ Skuld: Yes, it is. }

{ Keiichi: Man.. }

{ Skuld: That's why you are inside my mind. }

{ Keiichi: What? }

{ Skuld: It was planned this way. The higher powers. They wanted you inside my head for precisely this purpose, I think. }

{ Keiichi: Oh.. so I'm still being railroaded.. }

{ Skuld: No! Don't think of it that way! And you have free will. Over my actions you have complete freedom to stop me or not, as you see fit. }

{ Keiichi: Except for stuff in that big node. The Blue File. }

{ Skuld: That's why I strongly suggest you keep your mind out of that node as long as possible to avoid limiting your actions, your free will. }

{ Keiichi: Okay. You already explained that. As long as you don't tell me about the future, I still have free will. }

{ Skuld: Exactly. That's right. Boy, you sure catch on fast for a mere mortal. }

{ Keiichi: I'm sticking my tongue out at you right now. }

There was a pause.

{ Keiichi: I love you. }

{ Skuld: And I still don't know why. }

{ Keiichi: Yeah. It will always be a mystery. }

{ Skuld: Sheesh, are you always going to be this sardonic? }

{ Keiichi: Yep. }

Skuld sighed and smiled. She continued to gently stroke his mind as they looked out over the rooftop's railing at what was now their shared sovereign domain. The sky was sunny and partly cloudy, and the construction project on the western horizon was progressing apace.

Then she happened to look down at a rain puddle and saw her reflected image. She gasped.

{ Keiichi: Well, whaddya know..}

Skuld touched her forehead symbol in wonder as she gazed upon her reflection in the water. Her blue inverted-raindrop sigil had changed: the donut-hole was filled in. The two holes in her blue cheek chevrons were also filled in.

She started speaking aloud. "Wow. Hey, you know, I had always wondered why I was the only goddess in Asgard with empty holes in her goddess symbols. I suspected that it meant that I had a gap in my psyche, or that I was defective somehow. It had always upset me, and I never told anyone my feelings about it. And now look at me. The holes are filled."

She lowered her hand from her sigil and smiled. "Keiichi, I think that you were the missing piece in my puzzle." She looked up into space. "Thank you."

She could feel Keiichi return her smile. { You're welcome. }

And then, for the first time since the war, she spied a flock of rokona birds flying high on the western horizon. Using her keen eagle eyes - granted to her when she became a combat Valkyrie - she saw their great wings spread out wide, as broad and graceful as any angel's. Skuld marveled at their beautiful iridescent plumage. During each wing-flap the birds' color shifted from deep indigo to gold and back again as the sun bounced off them.

"I thought they were extinct. They survived.."

{ Keiichi: Yes. Life goes on. }

She touched her belly. "Yes, it does." She held the future within her.

They went downstairs.

And so the Fifth Age had begun.

* * *

**A/N:**

This chapter ends the first act. Yeah, I admit that kind of sucked for poor Keiichi. But don't worry, this is a fun story, and he will eventually get his body back. Their marriage will last for hundreds of years and has only just begun.

* * *

**A/N:**

As you may have figured out by now, this story explores two concepts: how free will works and how prophecy often gets misinterpreted.

I have already explained, back in Chapter 6, that free will is about information. If you don't know what's going to happen, then it doesn't matter if God already knows. You still have free will, and quite literally so, from your own point of view.

 **The perils of interpreting prophecy.** So far, prophecy has been misinterpreted twice in this story: Eihwaz overlooked the 'born' predicate regarding her unborn child, and Keiichi thought that 'I will never leave you' meant that he and Skuld would spend the rest of their lives together corporally. Now, Eihwaz has just given them a third prophecy that concerns one of their twin daughters. And the prophecy is literally true, but it will be misinterpreted later in this story. This sort of thing happens everywhere in scripture. In fact, sometimes it seems to me that _most_ prophesies in the Bible get misinterpreted (or just ignored) by someone or other. It makes you wonder why God even bothers sometimes. I think He does prophecy not just to demonstrate His omniscience, but also for the benefit of our hindsight. That is, looking back, we can spot how obvious it all really was. This is one of my major aphorisms about life: Everything in life is obvious once you know what you are looking for.

Nowhere does prophecy get more messed up than in attempts to interpret the Book of Revelation. Bad exegesis of that book has caused the creation of more whacked-out cults that anything else in the Bible. For example, the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses is based on an obviously bad (in my opinion) interpretation of the meaning of the 144,000 in Revelation 7:4-8 by Charles Taze Russell. You'd think the history of failed interpretations of prophecy that are described _within the Bible itself_ would cause people to be more circumspect regarding their own attempts to interpret biblical prophecies that haven't happened yet. For example, back in the first century AD almost everybody in Jerusalem misinterpreted the prophecies of the coming Messiah. They expected a political leader, a worldly king, a great leader like King David, to rescue the Jews from Roman military occupation. Almost nobody understood that the Lion of Judah, the Son of David, was actually the ruler of a very different kingdom. (Here's my short take on Revelation: It is God's _Coming Attractions_ movie trailer of the future. Like a movie trailer it reveals short previews of upcoming events in quick pericopes, out of order, giving a flavor, without giving everything away. Don't try to obsess on esoteric interpretations tied to current political events. If you try to hook your own interpretations on it you'll just screw yourself up. Just revel in the coolness of God's plan.)

 **Love versus power**. Eihwaz's speech about love and power goes to the heart of the conflict between good and evil, in my opinion. Evil just wants power, while love transcends power. (Makes it even more powerful. Yeah, go wrap your head around that one.) Mankind's oldest sin is wanting to become God, to get all the power. It doesn't work that way. It is the root of mankind's most foolish attempts at creating a utopia on Earth. It doesn't matter if it is Jim Jones, or Pol Pot, or Mao Zedong. The greatest horrors in mankind's history all go back to this one sin. It never, ever, works. It doesn't matter if it is the _Brave New World_ of Aldous Huxley, or the underlying belief system of Communism (the implied perfectability of man and willful obtuseness to our unfixable human weaknesses) or Socialism (the light version of the same thing), or Ayn Rand's Objectivism (replacing state tyranny with oligarchical tyranny). It goes wrong. Every. Single. Time. You'd think more people would have learned that by now, from the lessons of history if nothing else. This is the primary failing of the political class, in my opinion: The notion of man's perfectability and the giving of power - 'wise' leadership - over the masses - in putting trust in the élite, in faceless bureaucrats and non-democratic institutions over the individual. It's all about power and control. A bureaucrat does not love you. Welfare does not love you. Charity loves you, from your church, your neighbor. These grand utopias always fail. It's all about grabbing power for themselves to lord over you.

The whole notion of Christianity is that it is a love relationship between you and Him, with Jesus as your bridge. It's all about the empowerment of the individual, about that personal and private relationship, one-on-one. (Yes, even Catholicism when it's done right. It has lots of extra rituals and a superfluous hierarchy but it ends up the same way.) The fight of good versus evil is about love versus power, about you with Jesus as your co-pilot, against an impersonal and uncaring world system.

-HuuskerDu


	9. A Walk in the Park

**Chapter 9: A Walk in the Park**

_Two years later_

It was a beautiful sunny autumn day in Nekomi, with only a few fluffy white clouds in the sky. The air was cool and crisp, with a marvelous deep sky that gave visibility for miles. The starlings were in the trees singing their love songs to each other.

Chrono and Skuld walked side by side in the park, each pushing a baby stroller. Skuld was pushing Lindy, and Chrono was pushing her fraternal twin sister, Thoriko. Both of the precocious one-year-olds were bundled up in warm blue sweaters and knit caps, with cute pink booties and mittens.

They took a left turn on the path and began to walk towards the lake. They approached the shoreline, then stopped.

Chrono looked around. "Ah, this is where it all happened."

Skuld smiled and said, "Yes. This is where Mom first kissed Keiichi in the moonlight all those years ago," her smile widened, "and where I did the same thing in the sunlight. I planned it that way. I'm a morning person."

"I know all that. I was there both times, remember?"

"Yeah," Skuld sighed, "but I thought you might like to stop here for a moment. This is a special place. It is special for you as well, isn't it, Chrono? This was the place where you first kissed Lor too, am I right?"

Chrono looked down. "Uh, I don't want to talk about that. Lor and I broke up."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"You weren't supposed to."

{ Keiichi: Oh, good one, Skuld. }

{ Skuld: I didn't know! }

{ Keiichi: I thought you're supposed to know everything about your subordinates. }

{ Skuld: Shut up. }

{ Keiichi: Make me. Just kidding.. }

{ Skuld: Why did I Bond you again? I forget. }

{ Keiichi: For my hot body, you idiot. }

{ Skuld: Just for that I'm doing it my way tonight. Again. I'm skipping your turn. }

{ Keiichi: Oooh.. the Angel of Death gonna get me! Halp! Br'er Rabbit, don't throw me in that briar patch again! Halp! }

{ Skuld: You are so lucky that I think you are cute. }

{ Keiichi: Smootchies. }

Lindy started to coo in her seat.

{ Keiichi: Hey, there's nothing you can inflict on me that is worse than my experiencing your birth pangs. I think that traumatized me for life. }

{ Skuld: Good. It's about time a man knew what childbirth feels like. }

{ Keiichi: Oy.. }

Skuld smiled inwardly, then she continued to look out over the lake. The Tariki Hongan temple was not far away. She sighed as she thought about her past life on Earth, when she lived in that little bamboo and pine temple with her beloved sisters, her mother, her family. All of them gone.

Chrono gazed up at the tall and regal former Air Marshal. She looked like a beautiful Snow White with long flowing raven hair.

She saw the Daitenkaicho's long lustrous locks begin to blow gently in the crisp autumn wind, the ideal vision of a true goddess. As Chrono continued to watch the Leader of Heaven in awe, she said, "Wow, Skuld, you look so wonderful. It is so hard for me to believe that you were once that little bratty kid."

"Yeah, tell me about it. When Ragnarök happened I grew up fast. Had to."

Chrono hesitated. Finally she said, "So, uhm, I know that Keiichi is inside you somewhere, but, uh, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Am I going to regret this?"

"Naw."

"Uh.. Okay..."

"Are you still technically married now? I mean, uh, are you, kinda, sorta, maybe, you know, available? You resigned from the Fighting Wings, so you aren't my superior officer anymore. So, well, can I ask you out? Oh, I guess I mean both of you, uhm, wait.."

Skuld did a facepalm. She could mentally feel Keiichi doing the same. That girl just hit on an Aggregate Principal Representative. Unbelievable. The girl had chutzpah.

Skuld's mother had always told her that kind of spunky attitude was the prime qualification for a good Valkyrie. And Chrono certainly had all that, and more. It was why Skuld had promoted Chrono with a permanent 4th star to replace herself as the leader of the Fighting Wings.

Skuld sighed, "Yes to number one, no to number two, and heck no to number three. And besides I am _still_ your superior officer. Just higher up. The same way that the President of the United States is in charge of the US Armed Forces."

"Oh, uh, I'm really sorry! I'm so embarrassed now! Please forget this conversation ever started!"

"I wish I could."

"I'm so sorry!"

Skuld looked on her with mild disapproval. "You ought to know the rules. The Daitenkaicho must have a veto-spouse. So obviously I'm still married."

{ Keichii: Hoo boy. We need to fix her up with somebody.. }

{ Skuld: Got a suggestion? }

{ Keichii: Hmm.. Somebody who is as needy as she is. Lemmie see.. how about Troubadour? They had that thing years ago, you remember? She still likes him. }

{ Skuld: Keiichi, so help me, I'm going to pour a bucket of bleach in my ear just to wash out that suggestion from my mind, and you'll be collateral damage. }

{ Keiichi: Sorry. Just thinking aloud.. }

{ Skuld: Yeah. That's all you do, you know. If I knew you were always this gabby I woulda never Bonded you... }

{ Keiichi: Harumph. }

{ Skuld: Just kidding. Kiss kiss. }

Chrono eyes lit up. "Hey, your face.. you are having an argument with Keiichi! Is he jealous of me hitting on you? Are you two having an argument about little old me? Are you fighting over me? Tee hee."

"Shut up."

"Wow!"

{ Keiichi: Heh. You stepped into that one. }

"Grr. I said shut up. That's an order."

"Sorry.. sheesh." Chrono then continued to push Thoriko down the path.

{ Keiichi: LOL! }

{ Skuld: I hate you. }

{ Keiichi: My, so moody today. }

{ Skuld: Yeah. Coming here, remembering Big Sis, Urd, Mom, it's hard.. }

{ Keiichi: I know. Just remember, we'll join them all some day, and we'll be together again. }

{ Skuld: I know. I still miss them. }

{ Keiichi: I do too. }

{ Skuld: At least I have you. I'm the lucky one. }

{ Keiichi: Hey, I scored the ruler of Heaven. You're the hottest and most powerful goddess there is. }

{ Skuld: Flattery will get you everywhere with me, darling. Ok, I change my mind. Your way tonight. }

{ Keiichi: I just can't stop thinking about them.. Belldandy.. Urd.. Your mom.. }

{ Skuld: I know. }

{ Keiichi: Sorry. I'm getting maudlin.. seeing this spot.. the lake.. Let's just stay together forever, ok? }

{ Skuld: Those words are prophetic, you know. }

{ Keiichi: Prophetic? Really? How? }

{ Skuld: Nevermind. Help me push Lindy. We need to catch up with Chrono and Thoriko. }

{ Keiichi: Pushing. About Lindy.. her forehead symbol.. }

{ Skuld: Isn't it neat? }

{ Keiichi: I still don't understand how she got Belldandy's mark. }

{ Skuld: I told you, she got it from you. }

{ Keiichi: I guess.. I didn't know that was possible. }

{ Skuld: Keiichi, my love, anything is possible. You know that better than most. }

{ Keiichi: Yeah, I guess I do. So explain why Thoriko has all that amazing lightning ability, like Urd and Hild. That still bothers me. And so young. I mean, you are only Urd's half sister, so where did she get those powers from? }

{ Skuld: It's a secret. }

{ Keiichi: You can't keep any secrets from me. So tell me.}

{ Skuld: I'm not. Think about it. Why does Thoriko seem to act like Jack Jack in the movie _The Incredibles_? Work it out. }

{ Keiichi: Hmm.. Oooh.. I see. So obvious. How did I miss that? }

{ Skuld: Everything is obvious. You just have to use your eyes and your brain. }

{ Keiichi: Ah, that's why I didn't see it. I'm stuck using your low-wattage one.. }

{ Skuld: Yeah, laugh it up you putz. Keep that up and I'll start watching _Starship Operators_ on TV. The whole series. }

{ Keiichi: Ack! No! Stop! Anything but that! You're a meanie. }

{ Skuld: Heh. }

{ Keiichi: I love you. }

{ Skuld: And I still don't know why. Ah, caught up with Chrono. }

Then they spied a great waterspout on the lake approaching them. From within it a woman materialized. She appeared young and beautiful, with a pleasant round face and curly raven colored hair. She wore a dress of overalls, but with only a single strap. It was laid over a cotton knit blouse with mid-length sleeves.

[A/N: It is implied below that Skuld is repeating Keiichi's thoughts aloud so that his mother can hear him.]

{ Keiichi: Mom! }

"My dear Keiichi. I happened to be in the neighborhood and I sensed you were nearby. How are you?"

{ Keiichi: I'm doing fine. How is business at Whirlwind? }

"Wonderful. Chihiro is buying out Harley-Davidson at the end of the week."

{ Keiichi: Oooh... The Americans are going to be pissed... }

Takano shrugged. "Well, Harley-Davidson needed a buyer to rescue it. Can't be helped. And it was annoying. I had to scrounge around on that uncharted reef for a month to find enough platinum bars from the shipwreck to pay for the acquisition. I mean, there weren't any typhoons, hurricanes, tornados, or big storms anywhere. And at the height of the season! The meteorologists were starting to really scratch their heads. It was so embarrassing."

{ Keiichi: Oh. }

"There is another reason I stopped by."

{ Keiichi: Hmm? }

"Keiichi, I'm pregnant again. A girl."

Skuld, Chrono, and Keiichi all cheered, "Yay!" "Congrats!" "Wow!"

{ Keiichi: Wow! I get another sister! Wait, I thought you and Dad were through because you declined the Judgement Gate? }

"It is a new age, the Fifth Age. Everything resets. So this time we elected to go through the Judgement Gate together, and we passed."

{ Keiichi: Double congrats! Why you didn't tell me? }

"I didn't want to say anything in case we didn't make it."

{ Keiichi: Oh I see. Still, wonderful! }

"Yes! Well, I need to get going. Sorry to be in such a rush. I have such a busy roster this week. I need to flood New Orleans again with another Cat 4 hurricane, and I'm already behind schedule. They believe it's all because of man-made global warming. What a bunch of junk science. And I don't mean the skewed temp charts, the bad placement of temp stations in hot asphalt parking lots, or putting them right next to air conditioner vents, or the bogus computer models with proven biases in their source code that have already totally flunked all their temperature predictions for the past two decades. I don't mean any of that. What I mean is, look at the sun... the sun is cooling! That yellow ball in the sky has a teeny weeny affect on the weather too, you know."

{ Keiichi: Yeah, I guess it does. }

"I know! Right? The inter-glacial period is now ending, and the glaciers will come roaring back and smother everything, like they did for 90% of Earth's history. The extra CO2 is wonderful - Earth hasn't been this fertile in centuries. And global temperatures are staying flat. It's perfect. It's like it was planned that way or something. Sorry, I'm ranting. You know how moody I get sometimes. Anyway, I'm off to flood the French Quarter! Bye!"

Takano whirled away.

Skuld yelled for them both, "Bye Mom!"

{ Keiichi: Well, that was nice of her to stop by. }

{ Skuld: Yes it was. Uhm, Keiichi, dearest? That reminds me. }

{ Keiichi: Mmm? }

{ Skuld: I have a small surprise for you. }

{ Keiichi: What, you're pregnant again? Wait, that's impossible.. hey! }

{ Skuld: No, dummy. The paperwork from the Promotion Board finally went through. She just got promoted as a Plenary Potentate. She is graduating from reality level 16 up to reality level 38. I mean, wow, that high. And she's only first class. Can you believe it? }

{ Keiichi: Wow, really? }

{ Skuld: Yeah. Look, see? Follow my eyes up. Way up. See that way up there? Heading between the Upper Gates? Way up there, going from 16 to 38? She is moving up to the big leagues. I mean, wow, that's amazing. }

And so, using Skuld's eyes, whose sharpness surpassed those of the greatest eagle on Earth, a gift from her former Valkyrie status as the leader of the Fighting Wings, Keiichi looked up. And he thought that for the briefest moment he saw a great white bird, flying high, high, oh so high in the blue sky above.

Then he saw a small flash of light.

And then, several seconds later, using Skuld's ears, he heard a distant thunder-clap.

{ Keiichi: Upper Gate 38. Wow. }

{ Skuld: I know. That's impressive. She is really going places. }

Skuld could feel him smiling inside her. Outwardly she did the same.

The white bird then left their view and passed over the horizon as it headed for Upper Gate 38. It had graduated and moved on.

Keiichi caressed her mind as a thank-you.

They left the park together.


	10. The Future Ruler of Hell

**Chapter 10: The Future Ruler of Hell**

_Four years later_

"I'll play with you."

Thoriko looked up at Lindy from the dirt. "You will? Nobody else will." The little boy had just pushed Thoriko down to the ground, then laughed and ran back to the other children.

Lindy glared in the direction of the other children in the playground. "That's just 'cuz they are all a bunch of poopy-heads." She then grabbed the arm of her twin sister and dragged her to her feet. "C'mon! Let's swing together!"

And so they did. Lindy sang a song as they shared the swing-set, side by side. Thoriko rode the swing higher. It was only during times like these when Thoriko would actually show a small smile.

Skuld sat on the park bench watching her children play. Soon the twins would be entering Goddess Elementary School together.

Chrono was sitting next to her. "How can you let the other children treat her like that? Isn't there anything you can do to get them to be friends with her?"

Skuld sighed, "What would you have me do? Force them? Order their parents to make their children play with her? Tell their children to associate with the future ruler of the Underworld?" She wished that the terrible prophecy of Eihwaz didn't go public, that it could have been kept secret. But the late Eihwaz had made certain that her prophecy would be spread far and wide, for maximum damage.

Skuld looked down. "You can't force a child to make friends. It doesn't work that way."

Chrono shrugged, "I suppose. But this can't be good for Thoriko's social development. She needs more friends than just her sister. Lindy is her only real friend right now."

And Lindy loved her sister, no matter what anyone said. Skuld made a small grin, "That's just who she is."

For indeed she was. Skuld looked on toward her other daughter, the fair one, whose round face was always smiling and cheerful, with her hazel eyes framed beautifully by her blond locks of hair. Her demeanor was much like her father's, compassionate and caring, especially towards her sister.

Thoriko's face was darker and more angular, with her raven hair ending in curls like her grandmother's. She tended to be taciturn, rarely speaking to the other children. And during those rare times when she did speak to others, she often displayed her mother's ill-temper towards them.

Indeed, in many ways the two fraternal twins could not be more different.

They also were different one other important aspect, beyond their appearance or their temperament. It was because of the sigils that were branded prominently on their foreheads: Lindy had Belldandy's elongated rhombus symbol, but Thoriko's forehead sported two diagonal slash marks, one above each eyebrow, just like Marller.

Just like a demon.

The fact that the slash marks were blue and not red was seen only as a technicality. Everyone in Asgard knew the prophecy: That some day Skuld's daughter would become the most famous Daimakaicho-sama of Hell, it's greatest leader ever.

And so everyone avoided her.

* * *

_Some years later_

Skuld folded her hands on her desktop and waited for her daughter to enter her office. According to the proctors, Thoriko had seriously injured another student with a lightning bolt. The proctors had recommended her expulsion from Goddess High School.

Skuld and Keiichi loved both of their daughters and they did not play favorites. They gave Thoriko as much affection as they did to their other daughter. Skuld wondered if it was to no avail, that some things in life were just inevitable.

Thoriko reported to the Daitenkaicho's office for her punishment. The girl walked in. She was sullen as usual.

Skuld then saw Lindy walking in behind her. The Daitenkaicho raised her hand and said, "Lindy, no, please wait outside."

Her fairer daughter replied, "I'm staying."

"Lindy.."

"I was a witness."

Skuld conferred silently with Keiichi, then she nodded assent. Lindy could stay.

Skuld then turned her attention to her other daughter. "Thoriko, the proctors tell me that you threw down a lightning bolt on Sena right after school."

"I did."

"Why?"

She remained silent.

Lindy spoke up, "She was provoked. More than provoked."

Skuld held up her hand again, "I want Thoriko to tell me."

Thoriko remained silent.

"Don't you want to explain what happened? Tell me your side of the story?"

Nothing.

Skuld stood up and got angry, "You are the daughter of the Daitenkaicho! Explain yourself! That's an order!" Her eyes flashed yellow.

Both children stepped back in fear of the White Angel.

{ Keiichi: Let me handle this. }

The yellow irises faded back to their normal brown color; her face grew soft and reassuring. She sat down again.

Skuld had turned the conversation over to Keiichi. The Daitenkaicho made a small indulgent smile. "Sorry about that. We just got the report from Doctor Nie. He says the injuries are neither life threatening nor permanent. Still, it could have easily been much worse. You could have seriously injured her."

Thoriko looked down, "I'm sorry."

"Well, that's a start. You still need to tell us what happened. Remember, we love you."

Lindy held Thoriko's hand and said, "She's been bullied incredibly. She never reports it. It's been happening for years."

"Really? Is this true?"

Thoriko glared at her and yanked her hand away, "You broke your promise!"

Lindy looked upset. "I made that promise because you asked me to. You begged me to. And I kept my promise as long as I could protect you. But now it's just hurting you. I'm sorry. I have to tell them."

"I trusted you!"

The Daitenkaicho raised her hand. "Lindy, please continue."

Lindy looked at her sister, sighed, then explained, "The bullying has been going for a long time. The proctors look the other way. She never says anything about it."

Keiichi had previously asked Skuld about the proctors: Who or what are they? He wondered about those strange beings, all dressed in black. They were an enigma, their faces perpetually cloaked and unseen, and they had no names. Their whispered speech and their odd gliding movements were just as strange, as if they had no feet under their floor-length flowing cloaks and merely floated just above the floor. Skuld admitted that nobody knew much about the proctors. They seemed like they had always existed, perhaps even pre-dating the goddesses themselves.

"Why haven't any of the proctors told us about it?"

Lindy explained, "Because she never reports it. She never fights back. She lets them bully her. So I always protect her, keep them away. But the proctors separated us and placed us in different classrooms this year. I couldn't protect her anymore."

Lindy looked down, "I think they did it deliberately."

"But why would they do that?"

"I think they're afraid of her. Everybody is. Her mark, the prophecy, her powers. The other kids can't even levitate a marble yet, and she's already shooting lightning and creating F1 tornados."

She looked up. "The proctors don't want to train her any further. They think she's already too powerful. I think the reason they separated us was because if I'm not there to protect her, she would eventually snap. She did. Now they have a reason to expel her. End her training. Get rid of her."

{ Skuld: I'm going to do some serious ass kicking down there. }

{ Keiichi: Do it later. I'm not sure that's even possible with those things. But for now here's what I think we should do. }

They conferred and came to a quick agreement.

The Daitenkaicho said, "We'll deal with them later. Thoriko, we're pulling you out of training school. I'm sure you can pass the second-class graduation tests now. I know you are only a freshman, but you already have more abilities than any senior class member ever had at graduation."

Thoriko mumbled, "Thank you."

Lindy spoke up, "I know that I can pass the second-class tests too. I want to graduate with her."

Skuld smiled, "We were hoping you'd say that. Then it's decided. We're so proud of you both. Both of you will soon be ready for a mentor, for one-on-one first-class training. Or in this case, I should say, two-on-one. And we know the perfect mentor for you both."

Two-on-one? The sisters looked at each other with some confusion.

* * *

_Many years later_

Thoriko raised her arms up and concentrated. The skies darkened and rumbled with thunder. Then the wind rose up.

Lindy raised her arms as well, and a great torrent of rain began to fall from the rising storm.

Thoriko threw down her arms, and there was a blinding flash and an explosion. A large chunk of rock blew out from the cliff face where the lightning bolt had struck it. Then wind began to rise to hurricane force.

Their mentor yelled above the roar of the wind, "That's excellent! Now, both of you, see how fast you can stop the storm!"

The twins made some motions with their arms. The rain rapidly subsided and the winds quickly died. In a few more seconds a ray of sunlight broke through and shined on the trio.

Chrono beamed at her two pupils. "Very good! This is the best yet. Your control is almost perfect. Outstanding!"

Lindy bowed and said, "Thank you for your kind praise, Chrono-sama." She glanced sideways at her sister, "From both of us."

Thoriko took the hint and bowed as well. She had a small grin.

Chrono embraced them. "I'm so proud of you!" Lindy hugged her back. Thoriko was more awkward but did the same.

"Eventually you two will take the first-class exams and you won't need me anymore. I'll miss this. I really will." She released her embrace and looked at Thoriko, "You especially. I hate to see you leave Asgard."

Thoriko looked down. "Must I? I don't want to go. I don't want to oppose you. Fight you." She looked at them both. "Either of you. Or mother and father."

Chrono said patiently, "I've explained this before. The prophecy only says you are going to lead Niflheim. It doesn't say what kind of leader, only its greatest one. And you know your parents have their own theories about that."

"You really believe in those theories? That I can reform Niflheim somehow? Make peace with Asgard? End the endless war?"

Her mentor said, "Yes. Yes, I do."

Lindy said, "I believe in you too, Sis. If anyone can do it, you can."

"I still have a hard time believing it."

Chrono said, "Well, we can discuss this more later. We're done for today. Keep working on your mantras and the thought exercises like I taught you. See you tomorrow!" She left.

Thoriko was alone with the person she trusted the most. She confided to her fair sister, "I wish I had their confidence in me."

She knew that she still had a pent up reservoir of negative emotions inside her, the anger about what they did to her, about how she was always shunned, ostracized, bullied, and rejected by her peers. With her sister's counsel she tried hard to get rid of those negative emotions, and thanks to her they had lessened somewhat. But she knew they were still there, still hidden inside her, for she could feel the negativity within. "I'm... not ready. I might never be ready."

Lindy touched her cheek. "You'll purge those emotions eventually. I know your heart. No matter what any prophecy says, you are not evil."

Thoriko gave her a wry grin. "Too bad nobody else seems to share your opinion of me." Adults avoided her now as the children had when she was young, but instead of active abuse it was now merely the soft bigotry of social isolation. "Just you."

"Don't forget mother and father. And Chrono."

Thoriko sighed, "Sometimes I wonder even about them."

"You shouldn't! They believe in you too."

"I suppose.."

"You are a good person. I know it."

Thoriko raised her hand to her sister. "If I am, it is because of you. You've always been there for me."

Lindy grasped the offered hand tightly. "And I always will."

Thoriko looked at the ground. "Not in Niflheim you won't. I'll be alone then. We both know why you must remain up here."

"I might not be down there in person, but I'll always be with you in your heart."

Thoriko looked up at her. A tear was starting. "I can't imagine living without you."

Lindy carefully wiped away the impending tear from her sister's face before it could grow. "You will be ready one day. I know it."

Thoriko appreciated gesture, but she knew it would not save her from her fate. "If you were down there to support me, possibly. But that won't happen, will it?" She knew that the Blue File had predicted that both of Skuld's daughters would be leaders of their respective realms. "Some day we'll be deadly enemies."

Lindy stroked her cheek, "I can never be your enemy, nor you mine."

"But it will happen, yes?" She sighed. "It's inevitable. I'm stronger than you on the outside, but not on the inside. The negative energy of Niflheim will eventually tip me over to the dark side. I just don't have your inner strength. And I know all your abilities and weaknesses better than anybody, so I will know exactly how to defeat you. And if I am going to be the greatest Daimakaicho in history, I will."

"Then we both have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Thoriko was bitter. "You're such an optimist. We both know fate isn't like that."

Lindy looked into the eyes of her sister. "Nevertheless I believe in you."

"I wish I had your faith." Thoriko looked away.

There was a pause.

Lindy brushed back a lock of her sister's hair. "You know I love you... Just don't do anything stupid. Okay?"

Thoriko remained silent.

They both watched the sun setting in the west.

Then Thoriko said, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up later."

Lindy knew she was hiding something. She respected her sister and did not pry. She left.

* * *

Thoriko waited alone on the rooftop in the dark, watching the stars that were glittering in the night sky above. A few minutes later a pair of hands covered her eyes from behind, catching her by surprise. She yelped, then spun around.

Then the hands were lowered, and she gave the hands a kiss.

She smiled at the person she was waiting for, in their pre-arranged clandestine rendezvous. The young man lowered his arms and held her gently by the waist. He was tall and thin, with dark brown hair, a pointed chin, and piercing green eyes. Those eyes looked deeply into her own. Then both pairs of eyes closed as they shared a long and passionate kiss together.

His name was Keld, the only man she knew who did not shun her, hate her, or fear her. The only man who loved her. And Thoriko knew why.

It was because above Keld's brow were two diagonal marks that looked just like her own.

But his marks were not blue.

His marks were red.


	11. The Leader of Hell Descends

**Chapter 11: The Leader of Hell Descends**

"She is alone with him again. Am I right?"

Lindy looked down, "Yes, I think so." She was standing alongside her parents on the balcony of the Daitenkaicho's personal quarters.

Lindy then turned back to look at her mother, "How did you discover it?"

Skuld continued to scan the horizon. "You shouldn't need to ask. It wasn't that difficult. This is my sovereign domain. What surprises me is that Thoriko actually thought she could hide him from me. That was foolish."

Lindy gripped her mother's sleeve in supplication. "What will you do to her? Please don't punish her."

Skuld turned and made a small indulgent smile, then she gently placed her hand on the shoulder of her fairer daughter. "We have no intention of doing that."

Lindy recognized that it was Keiichi who was speaking using Skuld's voice. He was the one that always used plural pronouns. If not for that clue, Lindy found it more and more difficult to tell them apart anymore. The exception was whenever the Daitenkaicho flashed anger; that was always Skuld herself.

So, it was Keiichi that was speaking on their behalf. Lindy was inwardly relieved, for it meant that her beloved sister would receive leniency for her crime of harboring a fugitive demon.

The President of Heaven crossed her arms and gazed back out toward the horizon. Her face was stern. "Both of you are now adults. You've passed the first class exams with flying colors. You and your sister can now make your own decisions. And live with the consequences." That last remark was pointed.

Lindy remained silent and thoughtful. Then she asked, "When will it all happen?"

There was a pause. "Soon. We're not sure when exactly."

The Yggradrasil Mark II supercomputer was unable to conclusively forecast precisely when those great events would take place. Skuld had poured every ounce of her engineering skill into answering that question. She had dived deep into the bowels of the central processor, with Ere and Ex working diligently at her side, tweaking and adjusting settings, tightening tolerances, boosting energy inputs, and pushing the margins to their uttermost limits, all to no avail.

It was because the time stream was just too unstable. No amount of processing power could forecast what would happen next. A cusp in time was approaching, where even the smallest choices could have cataclysmic repercussions that could forever determine the future fate of Asgard.

If indeed Asgard had any future at all. Skuld admitted to herself that it was possible that Asgard and Niflheim would soon be destroyed in a final civil war, that at the appointed time their shared mansion would be wiped from the multiverse in an orgy of self-destruction.

{ Keiichi: Don't tell her that. It will distress her. }

{ Skuld: I won't. I'm not giving up hope. }

"Lindy, a very important crossroad is coming soon. You and your sister will decide the path you take. Your father and I have prepared you both for this as best we could. We've given you everything, all the love we have, raised you, taught you, instructed you. You are now ready. As ready as you will ever be."

Lindy nodded as she looked out. "Thank you. We will do our best."

Her mother was silent a moment. "We know you will. Our time is passing soon. Yours is just beginning."

Lindy turned to face her mother. "And hers. I'm still worried about her. Her fate."

"You mean her destiny."

Lindy tilted her head, "Isn't that the same thing?"

"No, not at all."

Lindy was a bit confused. "You mean there is a difference between fate and destiny?"

Skuld gave her a knowing smile. "Oh, yes. Most definitely."

Lindy waited for her to mother explain further.

"Fate is something that you cannot avoid. Destiny is something you embrace."

Lindy tried to understand. "Mother, you are saying we should not fear our future, but rather we should look forward to it?"

"Yes. You see?"

Lindy wasn't sure she did.

"In time you will understand."

The young goddess remained silent. Skuld then said, "Go speak with her."

"Yes, mother."

They went inside.

* * *

Thoriko and her demon paramour were having another secret tryst in a cave behind a waterfall just south of the main lake. The moist air from the waterfall fed the golden lichens, producing a yellow sparkly glow that imbued the cave with warmth.

Keld embraced his lover and gave her another kiss, "You are so beautiful. Those idiots are fools to hate you."

She looked away. He saw a tear in her eye. He grew concerned. "Thoriko, what is it? What's wrong?"

She stared over his shoulder. "I know why you are here. The real reason."

"I don't understand.."

"You were sent here. On a mission. To seduce me."

He froze. "Thoriko.."

"I'm not stupid."

"No.. no, you are not."

She took a step back and gave him a look. "So I cannot trust even you.."

"No! I mean, yes, I admit I was sent here. But.. I know you now.. and.. I won't.. I'll never.."

Then she smiled. She shushed his lips with her finger and embraced him again. "Well, it's a pity you fell in love with me then.. for real, I mean."

"Yes.. I did. I'm so sorry. I should have told you."

"Relax. It's all right."

"I should have told you right away.."

"Shush, it's okay." She rested her chin on his shoulder. "It wasn't necessary. I guessed it from the start. All I did just now was confirm it. I can read you like a book, you know. You can never hide anything from me."

"No, I can't. I love you. I'm so sorry.."

"I said shush. Here, let me show you how to properly apologize to me."

* * *

Later that day Lindy found Thoriko alone in the park. She approached her sister. "Mother knows about your lover."

Thoriko folded her arms and harumphed, "Good. Took her long enough."

"You should be more respectful of her."

"I am."

"You don't sound like it.."

She whirled to face her sister. "I am. For now. See this mark on my forehead? It is a demon's mark. It only happens to be blue now. Everyone knows it will change to red, _then_ I might just become a teeny weeny bit less respectful of her."

"Stop it."

"Yes, let's all stop pretending, shall we? You think I am going to 'reform' Niflheim? Reconcile it with Valhalla? Nothing will change. Nothing! The war will go on, as it always has, as it always will. Except I'll be the one fighting on their side. Against you."

"Thoriko, please.."

"When we were sparring have you ever defeated me? Even once?" She pointed at her forehead. "This, this, is my mark, like the mark of Cain in the Bible, you see? It will be my fate to kill you, and then I will bear this mark of shame, forever!"

Lindy said, "Uhm, that was actually not its purpose, the mark of Cain in the Bible I mean."

That threw Thoriko off her stride, "Eh?"

"That mark was assigned by God Himself, so that no one would lay a finger on Cain in retribution for killing his brother. It was a mark of _protection_."

"Huh? I didn't know that."

Lindy smiled, then she caressed her sister's face. "It's not important. There is no way you could ever harm me, nor I you."

Thoriko flinched away. "Don't touch me."

Lindy grew concerned. "What's the matter?"

"Me. Everything. This stupid system. I hate it all."

"Please, I love you."

"Stop it! Stop saying that! Don't you see? You're just making it worse! I'm just going to hate myself even more for what I am going to do to you! You're making it worse.. for me.. for us.." She started to cry bitterly. "Go away! Just go away!"

"I'm so sorry.. please.. calm down."

Thoriko wiped the tears from her face and composed herself. Then she sighed, "It's fate. Deal with it."

Lindy could see how emotionally distraught her sister was. She had to silently admit that she might be right: The prophesy had subjected Thoriko to decades worth of emotional abuse - shunning, mistrust, prejudice, and fear - all of which had permanently affected her heart. Perhaps she didn't have the inner fortitude to try to reform Hell all by herself. Maybe it would overwhelm her..

Lindy's spirits started to fall. Then she remembered Keiichi's words on the balcony. She suddenly froze. Then she had an epiphany. She started to smile. "No.. dear sister. It is not fate."

She rushed up and hugged Thoriko, who blinked her eyes and stood in stunned confusion. There was a bright gleam in Lindy's eye. "It is _destiny_."

Lindy let go her embrace and then started pacing in a circle, deep in thought. "Let me think.. Hmm.. Yes.. Who is in charge down there now?"

Thoriko was still bewildered. "Uh, right now nobody is. The tradition for succession down there is that the Daimakaicho kills her predecessor. Given the prophecy, nobody down there is stupid enough to be the fall guy for me."

Lindy jumped. "Of course!" Then she rushed up to Thoriko and said, "I think I might have an idea, dear sister. May I ask, where are you hiding your lover?"

Thoriko told her.

Lindy prepared to run. Then she paused and turned. "If I do die, you must not blame yourself."

Thoriko was stunned. It sounded to her as if her worst fears were being confirmed. "So, I do kill you..."

Lindy smiled. "No, dear sister. You won't ever harm me. I'm certain of that now. Nor will your mark ever turn from blue to red."

"I don't understand."

Lindy gave her a knowing smile and left quickly.

Thoriko shook her head in confusion.

* * *

A few hours later, Lindy suddenly appeared in front of Thoriko's demon lover for the first time. "Hello, Keld. Nice to meet you."

The demon yelped in surprise. "Gah! Where did you come from!?"

"Stealth refraction of lightwaves, a basic trick for someone like me."

"What.. you.. you're her sister.. what do you want?"

"I just wanted to meet you, that's all." She crossed her arms, then eyed him up and down. "I must say, you are quite the bishy catch." The demon, having never seen the goddess before now, did not notice that Lindy's hazel eyes had changed. They were no longer _tareme_ , round and soft. They had become _tsurime_ , with the outer corners of the eyelids slanting upwards, ending in distinct sharp points. The change was subtle, but quite effective in communicating her dominance.

She walked around him slowly, like a wolf inspecting its prey. He turned nervously to face her. She made a nasty grin. "My, you're yummy. It's too bad you are a demon and all, or I might have given my sister some competition for you. Pity."

"Stay.. stay away from me!"

She slowly ran her finger down the front of his chest. "I think not." Then she stepped behind him and whispered in his ear, "Do you know the penalty for a demon caught sneaking into Valhalla? It's death. I could snap my fingers and scatter your molecules to the wind, and no one would think twice about it."

He shuddered. "Please.. no.."

She then moved around very close to him, her _tsurime_ eyes only inches away from his own. He felt her breath on his face. "Unless," she said seductively, "you give me a reason not to."

"Wait, you're Lindy, right? Thoriko told me about you. How kind and gentle you are. You can't possibly be her sister.."

She wet her finger with her lips, then she touched his. "I assure you I am."

"You're.. you're acting like a demon.. like Hild.."

Her deadly smile widened slightly. "My, you catch on fast." She stepped back while continuing to eye him like a meal. "Good. I see that we understand each other. You will now listen very closely to what I have to say, because your life _will_ depend on it." She moved in with her lips next to his ear, "Now pay attention carefully..."

* * *

The great events on Earth were finally beginning to unfold, just as they were predicted millennia ago. Meanwhile the message from Niflheim was promptly delivered to the Daitenkaicho's office. Skuld unsealed the scroll and read it.

This was the day. Skuld sent her daughters to the gate to receive the delegation from Niflheim.

Lindy, Thoriko, and Keld waited under partly cloudy skies, standing on the fair green lawn under the gate. Thoriko suddenly realized she would miss all this, the fair weather, the wind, the sky. She wondered if she would ever see the sun again.

Thoriko held Keld's arm. They were now betrothed. She was a bit surprised that Skuld and Keiichi had given their blessing, but since she and Keld would soon be living in Niflheim it was to be expected, she supposed.

The gate dilated. Two Uruk-hai wyrm riders descended from the gate. They began to dismount from their beasts.

Thoriko was getting ready to approach them.

Then Lindy silently took a step behind Keld, leaned in, and said to him, "Now."

He quickly assumed a marksman stance with his arms focused on Thoriko. "I love you.."

Decades of combat training had triggered Thorkio's near-instant reaction. She hesitated only because the identity of her betrayers had surprised her. The delay was only a fraction of a second, but it was enough. Before she could leap out of the way, Keld's force cage had surrounded her.

She quickly fired a tremendous lightning blast to dispel it. The blast knocked both her attackers to the ground, but Lindy's hands remained in contact with Keld's back, feeding him power to reinforce the cage, and it was too much for Thoriko to overcome on her own.

Thoriko was captured. The three of them remained frozen in that tableaux, with Thoriko's arms pushing in a panic against her cage, her lover down on his knees with his arms outstretched towards her, and Lindy kneeling behind him providing support.

And during those frozen few seconds, while Keld's back was turned, Lindy dropped her mask for a moment, so that Thoriko could see her true face. And in those soft round hazel eyes Thoriko saw the face of the deepest sadness, touched with the greatest love.

Lindy quickly recomposed her mask and stood up again. Her eyes were _tsurime_. She crossed her arms as she strutted around her sister's prison, as the pair of Uruk-hai escorts watched. "My dear sister, you seem to have been caught like a bug in a rug. Don't worry, it is only temporary."

Thoriko was still stunned. "Lindy.."

"Well, I couldn't very well attack you myself, dear sister. You and I have been sparring partners for decades. You know my every move. But your boyfriend, on the other hand, has some novel tricks. Like that force cage."

"Let me out!"

"Not yet. I can't have you interfering with my coronation, after all, can I?"

"No.. not you.."

"Yes. Me. I've been looking forward to this. Don't you remember the prophecy?" She sighed. "Oh, and please, my dear, don't be too hard on your loverboy when you get out. You see, he had no choice. I made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

Lindy looked up at her waiting escorts. "Ah, and here they are, right on schedule."

Lindy faced the two hulking guards. She was tall, strong, and determined. "I am your new leader. You will escort me to my new sovereign realm, to Hell."

The two Uruk-hai looked at her with some confusion, then at each other. They hesitated.

Her face grew stern. "Yes, me! I am the daughter of the Daitenkaicho of Valhalla. I am the one whom Eihwaz-sama had prophesied will rule Niflheim."

The larger Uruk-hai spoke, "You?"

She walked slowly and ominously towards them, causing them to back away a step. Her voice was soft yet menacing. "Yes. I am. You know very well that your dead former leader, Eihwaz, made a famous prediction to my mother, the Daitenkaicho. That prophesy is known all over both Heaven and Hell. It predicts, and I am quoting her exactly, _Your daughter will rule Niflheim and be sung as the great Daimakaicho-sama. And she will be the greatest Daimakaicho in history._ And that, you see, is _me_. I will be your greatest leader, ever. Greater than even Hild-sama herself. Do you understand?"

And then, as she had practiced alone and in secret, she transformed. Her face became like her mother's whenever she grew angry. Lindy used a simple cantrip to make her _tsurime_ eyes flash yellow, just like the famous White Angel of Death. Lindy spoke menacingly, "You will obey ME!"

It was as if the two great warriors of Hell were looking right into the eyes of the White Angel of Death herself. They instinctively fell to their knees and started to tremble before her. She took another step. "And you know how Hild delt with slackers who failed her. Slackers like you two? If you think Hild was bad, just imagine what _I_ am going to do to you if you fail to obey me." Her nasty smile grew wider.

The two great hulks grovelled for mercy, begging her not to kill them in some horrible way.

Then she stopped her approach and gave them both a benevolent smile, "Oh, very well. I suppose I ought not slay the very first two minions that I happen to run across, before even leaving Heaven. You two are rather fortunate that I am feeling so charitable today. It is a rather special day, after all."

She raised her hands theatrically. "Therefore arise, my pets. Escort your leader to her new home." The two Uruk-hai immediately stood up and took their places alongside her, in an honor-guard befitting the Daimakaicho.

Thoriko's face was streaked with tears. "Don't go.."

Lindy turned away. Inwardly she sighed, _farewell my beloved sister._

And then, with all due pomp and ceremony, the blond haired goddess was escorted up to the gate for her coronation as the Daimakaicho-sama of Niflheim.

To become its greatest leader ever.


	12. The Sisters Meet

**Chapter 12: The Sisters Meet**

Hrungnir stood in the Combat Command Center with a stunned expression on her face. The shiny onyx roof of the large chamber reflected the blood-red glare from the glowing sulphurous pits onto her facial features. She simply stared at the main status monitor. Then she shook her head and tried to blink away what she was seeing.

The Uruk-hai honor guard that she had dispatched to Asgard was returning not with Thoriko, but with _Lindy_.

Her brain tried to process what her eyes were telling her. No.. this was all wrong. This wasn't in Little Sister's plan at all!

While muttering nameless oaths to herself, Hrungnir walked over to a second command console and smacked a button. A trio of flying insect-like devices popped up out of the floor. They were micro-UAV spy-cams equipped with video and audio sensors. She had designed them herself.

She fiddled with the controls to assign the micro-UAVs' their target. The bugs flew off to the gate arrival area. They used stealth light refraction to hide themselves. They would surreptitiously follow and spy on the new arrival everywhere she went. Hrungnir wanted to learn as much information about Lindy as she could before meeting with her new 'master'.

She shook her head again. No, it can't be. Years of careful planning had revolved around Thoriko taking the reigns of Hell. Hrungnir had greatly admired the plan of her Lil' Sis. It was so subtle, so elegant. Thoriko would join the side of the red enthusiastically and willingly.

A key part of the plan had involved Thoriko's erstwhile lover, Keld. He was unaware that he was raised from birth to carry out his mission. He was not simply an agent, nor was he a double agent. He was in fact a _triple_ agent. From his birth they had used secret and deep magic spells to tamper with the deepest recesses of Keld's mind, spells that were originally designed by Hild herself, to mold Keld into the perfect tool for the plan. Since it was done to him at birth, the mental tampering was absolutely undetectable to Skuld, Doctor Nie, or anyone else in Asgard for that matter. It was simply a matter of imposing certain personality engrams upon a blank mind, a _tabula rasa_. One of those engrams ensured that Keld would fall madly and passionately in love with Thoriko. It was by design. He never knew who or what he really was.

And there was more. Plans within plans.

But it was all for naught. The wrong girl was coming Downstairs. Argh!

Hrungnir turned off the monitor and slumped into her chair. She started to brood. Her personal Uruk-hai guards shifted their feet uneasily.

They were her personal guards, not official ones. It was because she was careful not to take on the title of Daimakaicho, the Leader of Hell. She refused the title even though it was freely offered to her, by acclamation even, after her sister had died.

She was now the most powerful remaining demon that had survived the war. Originally it was Lil' Sis who was bootstrapped as Niflheim's initial L1 demon. Lil' Sis had quickly become the new Daimakaicho and had leapt into her new role with gusto. She had gained the title not based on any kind of seniority, but rather because Hell operated strictly on the basis of Darwinian social evolution: She was the strongest demon, and it was simply a matter of survival of the fittest.

But Hrungnir refused to accept that same title. She had refused even though, having been previously promoted as the second L1 by her older but physically smaller sister, she was now the strongest remaining demon in Hell. It was because she knew full well about the prophecy regarding Skuld's daughter becoming the greatest Daimakaicho ever. Succession in Niflheim was traditionally by assassination or ensealment, and she wasn't stupid. And she had a good idea how powerful Skuld's daughters really were.

Hrungnir's leadership of Niflheim was only unofficial. But it was absolute. She was obeyed without question.

But her erstwhile kingdom was still in utter ruin. The battle of Ragnarök had devastated Niflheim even worse than Asgard. The red side had suffered the decapitation of its entire leadership - Hild, Hagall, and Urd - at the very start of the battle. The forces of evil were in complete disarray. Many demons fought blindly, uncoordinated, wild.

It was their sheer ferocity that pushed back the side of the good. The gods and goddesses retreated from the onslaught. It was a tactical decision, made because of the doublet system. The great gods and goddesses of Asgard tried to show restraint and not attack all out, lest they destroy themselves utterly in the process.

But it had almost happened anyway. Asgard had suffered 90% casualties, as did Niflheim. Hell's strongest combatant, the great wolf Fenrir, was the wildest of all. It rampaged completely out of control, causing unimaginable devastation wherever it went.

Hrungnir had survived the war only by accident. It was because, like Skuld, she was a resourceful combat engineer. During the height of the battle she had infiltrated the great living space vessel, V'ger, trying to destroy its power generators while Skuld was busy on the opposite end of the 100km spacecraft trying to revive it. Skuld was occupied with activating the main functors to steer the vessel onto the field of battle. She did not know that Hrungnir was also on board, trying to destabilize the anti-matter feed in the rear. Hrungnir then got herself accidentally trapped in a magnetic energy viaduct and was sucked into the huge ship's central power core. She was able to slap together the rubies on her wrist-bracelets just barely in time. It was her personal panic device, a null-space projector of her own design. The bracelets had saved her life. They had flipped her existence out of the physical world just before she fell into energies stronger than the center of a star. But it had also effectively knocked her out of the rest of the battle.

She was the Mokkurkalfi. Like her counterpart, Sklud, she loved to build things: robots, large mechas, and other elaborate autonomous devices. The difference was that Hrungnir made her creations only as mere tools - she indifferently discarded them when they were no longer useful - whereas Skuld had filled her own creations, like Banpei and Sigel, with her love and affection: She had made them come alive.

Hrungnir was like Skuld in one other important respect: She had watched as her sister died.

Hrungnir would never forgive Skuld for killing her Lil' Sis. It happened on that fateful day when Skuld had successfully trapped Eihwaz on the rooftop of the HQ building. Hrungnir was loitering, floating invisibly, just inside the Valhalla gate, watching with binoculars. She was waiting for Eihwaz's signal to dive down and evacuate her dear sister as soon as she grabbed the copy of the Blue File.

The infiltration op was made possible because of the ingenious device that Hrungnir had designed. It allowed the pair to fool the Valhalla gate's friend-versus-foe identification system and pass through without setting off any alarms.

She had originally tested the infiltration device on the day of Skuld's marriage. She had just finished spying on the wedding ceremony, and she was in the process of re-opening the gate to return back to Niflheim with her intelligence report, when Skuld had detected her IR heat signature. Skuld had foolishly lept into battle alone without any backup or support. In the ensuing firefight Hrungnir had almost killed the Daitenkaicho, a target of opportunity. Normally Hrungnir would not have tried to kill her like that, but the doublet system was no longer in effect so she knew her own sister, Eihwaz, would not be harmed.

But now she was gone, brutally murdered by Skuld. Hrungnir would never forgive Skuld for what she had done to Lil' Sis.

And if she could not get revenge on Skuld herself, she vowed that she would get satisfaction in some other way.

On her children.

* * *

Hrungnir called together her senior minions for a hasty meeting. They met secretly in a large hidden oval chamber. In the center of the room was a long table made of solid dolomite, surrounded by several high backed chairs.

Hrungnir sat at the head of the table with her minions seated on each side. She was not wearing her trademark spiked helmet and mask. Indeed, she had not worn either one since her sister had died. Without her mask she was not unattractive. Her blond locks spilled down around her shoulders and framed her hazel eyes.

She was worried. Her brow was furrowed as she clasped and unclasped her hands repeatedly. "What a mess. Ok, we have to improvise, and quickly. So what do we know about Lindy?"

Dorlaz sighed, "Not much. The dossier on her is pretty thin."

Thrymr grunted, "Lemmie at her! I'll stomp her into paste!"

Hrungnir glared at the She-Hulk, "No. She's too strong even for you, Thrymr. And besides there's that pesky prophecy. She's going to become Daimakaicho. We have to decide how to deal with it."

Halval shrugged and said, "Well, if she's going to become the greatest Daimakaicho ever, that means she is going to out-Hild even Hild herself, right? I mean, is that so bad?"

Hrungnir clenched her fists again, "We don't know that, you idiot! We don't know _how_ she is going to become the greatest Daimakaicho. For all we know she could open all the pits and betray us all!"

"You think that might happen?"

Hrungnir did more fist clenching and unclenching. She sighed, "I don't know. But we have to assume the worst. Do we have any intel at all on her psych profile?"

Dorlaz spoke up again. "Not much. Obviously she doesn't have Thoriko's unstable personality. We do know that, like Thoriko, she is one-quarter elemental. Her paternal grandmother is a very strong whirlwind spirit, an L1, extremely wild and chaotic. So she probably has a similar chaotic component in her psychological makeup."

"That just means she's unpredictable. Not helping."

"Her mentor was Air Marshal Chrono. So she has advanced Valkyrie combat training."

"You are _still_ not helping. I need weaknesses not strengths, dammit!"

The table was silent.

Finally Halval spoke again, "Ok, she is powerful. She is unpredictable. And she's a top fighter. That sounds a lot like Hild to me. Why don't we just accept her for now and see how it works out?"

"Because she is Skuld's daughter! I don't trust anything with that bitch!"

The table was silent again.

"Very well, sigh. This is going to be a long-term op then. First stage: Gather intelligence. For now, we just play along with her. And we spy on everything she says or does. Everything."

Her minions nodded.

"And we introduce her to her new personal assistant.." She looked at Dorlaz.

Dorlaz gulped.

".. because she needs orientation, right? Someone to explain things, customs, protocols, all that stuff. Heh." Her nasty smile could have curdled milk at 100 yards.

"Dorlaz, stay here. The rest of you are dismissed." Her minions bowed and left.

Dorlaz stood up, mussed his red hair with his hands, and sighed. "Hrungnir, you can't do Keld's gambit on her. That took decades of preparation. She won't be fooled."

"Then don't fool her."

"Huh?"

"I said don't fool her."

"I'm not following."

"Tell her that I sent you. Tell her everything that happened at this meeting. Be completely honest about it."

"I don't get it.."

"You don't have to. Your new role is to be her advisor. Help her as much as you can. That's an order."

Dorlaz looked at Hrungnir carefully. He knew that she could be just as shrewd, manipulative, and deceitful as her sister was.

And he knew that she knew it. And he knew that she knew that he knew it. "I see.."

 _No, you don't_ , thought Hrungnir.

* * *

Lindy was sitting alone in her private chambers, humming a nameless tune to herself. She was idly using a diamond-encrusted file to sharpen her long black nails. They were curved and pointed, like a cat's claws.

A hidden chime sounded. She smiled. "Ah, right on time. You may enter."

One of her personal maids then escorted in the two expected visitors. The first was a girl of medium height with shoulder-length blond hair. She was wearing an elaborate red-and-gold costume and cloak that made her look somewhat like a renaissance knight. The second visitor was an impressive looking male demon with a shock of red hair, rather tall and very bishonen, wearing a simple gray-and-black tunic and jacket.

Lindy arose to greet her new visitors. She herself was wearing a shimmering red cloak that revealed a striking skintight black-and-red outfit. It left almost nothing to the imagination. She noted with some satisfaction that the bishonen's eyes had not missed the outfit's rather impressive cleavage.

She smiled. "Ah, you must be Hrungnir and Dorlaz."

The pair bowed deeply before her. The girl spoke. "Madam Daimakaicho, we are honored that you have granted us this private audience in your own personal chambers."

She waved her hand indifferently. "Well, it is because I am tired. That coronation was so insufferably boring and tedious. I thought it would never end. In fact I was tempted to cut it short."

Lindy then approached the pair and looked them over carefully. "So, you are Eihwaz's big sister.." She slowly wiped her index finger and its razor-sharp claw delicately under Hrungnir's chin.

The girl did not flinch. "Yes. I am physically bigger, but she was the elder."

Lindy took back her finger and then tilted her head slighly. "I see. It is a pity what happened to your older sister. Rather regrettable. She would have been a considerable asset to me."

Hrungnir didn't take the bait. "Of course. I hope that I can humbly perform her duties for you myself in her absence."

"Quite." Then she looked at Dorlaz. "So, this is to be my new personal advisor?"

He bowed. "Yes, Madam Daimakaicho. I hope I can be of service to you."

She walked very close behind him, then stroked his cheek with the razor claw. "Oh, I think you can..." Dorlaz flinched slightly. Then Lindy looked back at Hrungnir, "Excellent choice. You've done well."

"Thank you, Madam Daimakaicho."

"Very good. Please leave us now. Dorlaz and I have much to discuss. In private." The girl bowed and left.

He was now standing alone with the Leader of Hell in own her personal chambers. He was nervous, and with good reason.

Lindy circled him. "I know exactly who you are. I know exactly why you are here."

"Madam Daimakaicho, please.."

"You are fooling no one. I'm rather disappointed that Hrungnir tried something so obvious."

"Oh no, madam. I was instructed to inform you that I am one of her personal minions, and that I report directly to her."

"You admit it freely? Explain."

Dorlaz then began to tell her everything that had transpired at the secret meeting. He told her that Hrungnir did not trust the Daimakaicho, and how she wanted to gather more intelligence about their new master.

He kept talking. Lindy stopped walking in circles. She began to listen carefully. Dorlaz noticed that she blinked her _tsurime_ eyes a bit oddly.

When he was finally done with his confession she remained silent for a full minute. Then she smiled at him again. However, he noticed that the smile this time was slightly different than before. A bit more pleasant and less threatening perhaps? Maybe it was just his imagination.

She looked at him carefully. "Hmm, you aren't lying. I'm certain of it. Yes, this is very interesting."

"Thank you. I was instructed to assist you as best I can."

"So it would appear."

Dorlaz sighed. He knew that Lindy and Hrungnir were playing some kind of high-level game of chess. He was only a pawn in this game.

She then suddenly spoke. "Actually, you are more like a rook than a pawn. Or maybe a bishop."

Dorlaz was startled. Was she reading his mind or something?

"Yes, I am reading your mind or something." She smiled again.

"What.. you are?"

"Well, of course, my dear boy. You think I just waltzed into Hell completely unprepared?"

"I'm sorry. I know you don't trust me yet." He bowed again very deeply. "But for what it is worth, I will promise to serve you from now on, and not Hrungnir."

"I see. Then I will take your promise for exactly what it is worth." She began to circle him and stroked his chin again. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Yes, just fine indeed."

And so Lindy had taken her first cautious steps in recruiting her first ally in Hell.

* * *

Hrungnir watched the monitor screen. _So, she's a telepath. That is a surprise. I wonder how she does it? Some kind of device perhaps? Something to learn._

Hrungnir made her own smile. It was a nasty one. Her gambit with Dorlaz, to have him be honest with her, was the correct first move to make.

So, this was going to be a game of chess, of move and counter-move, against a shrewd and worthy opponent.

Yes, this could be very interesting and entertaining.

Could be. But won't. Hrungnir knew she would win.

It was not because she thought she could defeat her opponent in this chess game.

It was because she wasn't playing chess at all.

* * *

**A/N:**

To learn more about Hrungnir's close relationship with her sister, Eihwaz, see the manga _Oh! My Goddess!,_ Chapter 273.

 **Note:** In OMG Chapter 265, Skuld fights Hrungnir in a big mecha battle. During the battle Belldandy tells Keiichi that Skuld is merely using magic to build her devices. I emphatically reject that notion. In my view Skuld is most definitely a real engineer, and a good one.

Now, during the aforesaid battle Belldandy also states, "Should she mature and apply her power, who knows how powerful a goddess she would become." This is the first time we hear about Skuld's potential future greatness. Urd cautions Keiichi to keep it a secret so she doesn't get conceited. I interpret this to mean that Skuld was more-or-less unaware of her future destiny as Asgard's leader until it actually happened.

* * *

**A/N Update:**

**Ending Sneak Preview:** To give you an emotional flavor for the ending, see the YouTube video [Coldplay - Paradise (Peponi) African Style (ft. guest artist, Alex Boye) - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgovv8jWETM) (4:56). _Peponi_ is Swahili for 'paradise'. This beautiful video, which soars at 2:53, and the other videos that I will cite later, will help you to understand the joy and wonder that our heroines will feel in the final chapter.

-HuuskerDu


	13. Revolt in Hell and Heaven

**Chapter 13: Revolt in Hell and Heaven**

Lindy ruled Hell with an iron hand. In many ways she was more terrifying than Hild ever was. Often she performed summary executions on the spot, even if only based on some imaginary slight or rumor. She simply snapped her fingers and the poor unfortunate victim's body was atomized in front of everybody, with the molecules flying away and scattered into the wind as the victim screamed.

Everyone knew there was no possible way for anyone to survive that kind of atomization. And sometimes, if she was particularly annoyed, she dissolved her victim slowly. It was horrifying to watch.

In actuality however, each 'execution' was a ruse. Lindy had in fact not killed anyone. She had used the whirlwind powers that she inherited from Keiichi's mother, Takano, who was the greatest wind elemental on Earth, to dissolve her victims and then immediately reconstitute them in a hidden location far away from the prying eyes of Hrungnir's UAV spies. Then she had her victims quietly exiled to another mansion. Many of them were actually quite grateful, not just for still being alive, but for having the opportunity to live the rest of their lives in far more comfortable place.

And so Lindy seemed to be the very agent of Death itself. And thus she was feared - and therefore respected - by all the demons in Niflheim. Everyone was cowed by her, with the rumors going far and wide: That a new and powerful leader, who was more capricious, brutal, and unpredictable than even Hild herself, was now firmly seated on the throne of Hell.

Hrungnir, not being a fool, remained carefully subservient and obedient.

And watchful.

* * *

Lindy was asleep in her queenly bedchamber. A chime sounded to indicate that it was morning, as there was no sunrise in the depths of the abyss. She slowly opened her eyes, her pleasant dream having evaporated like the morning dew.

And then, as she usually did upon awaking, she said a silent prayer.

_I am afraid. I don't know if I can keep on doing this. Please give me the strength and courage to continue on, according to your will._

She then got up and prepared herself for another working day as the Leader of Hell.

* * *

Lindy was exasperated with her most trusted advisor. Having just finished breakfast she was wearing only her bathrobe.

{ Lindy: It's happening right _now_ you fool! It is why I came down here, why I am trying to save Niflheim. Save it, not destroy it! }

Dorlaz was panting hard. His weaponized hands were pointed at his so-called mistress. He had just caught Lindy transmitting a secret communique up to her sister Thoriko, the chosen future Daitenkaicho of Asgard. He knew at that moment that Lindy was indeed a double-agent, for her transmission had just confirmed it. It told him, without any doubt in his mind, that the beautiful woman that he was starting to have feelings for was false, that she was nothing more than a traitor to her sovereign people.

And it had happened exactly as Hrungnir had predicted it would. Dorlaz had to admit that his original master was right all along.

Lindy sighed. Dorlaz noticed that her eyes had transformed. They were now _tareme_ , round and soft. She was showing him her true face. In his mind it confirmed how much of a traitor she really was.

{ Dorlaz: And to think I almost considered the possibility of trusting you. After all, you came from outside. But no, you're just another self-serving miscreant. You are merely double-dealing for your own ends, just like everybody else down here. Well, at least we have the decency not to betray ourselves to the enemy. I guess that puts you even lower than us, doesn't it? }

{ Lindy: No, Think about it. I'm trying to save Niflheim, not betray it! Think about everything I've told you for the past six months. It's why I chose you! You're not stupid! Think! }

He paused for a minute. "Ok, let's talk out loud." Dorlaz knew that their conversation was being monitored.

Lindy didn't care. "I know that Hrungnir is listening in right now. She's using those hidden micro-UAVs with the video and mics. So yes, let's talk out loud, for her benefit."

Dorlaz nodded. "So you knew? Very well. I still can't believe she was right about you."

Lindy flapped her arms. "You're wrong. At least about my motives. You are a smart demon. I'm actually on your side. Let me try to convince you."

"Sure, give it your best shot."

"Look, let's put all our cards on the table, shall we? I've known about Hrungnir's micro-UAVs the entire time I've been down here. It was pretty obvious, by the way.. she was never fooling me about it. That's why I established the telepathic communication with you in the first place. I did it as soon as I could, when I elevated you to a first-class demon, so you were strong enough to transmit back _."_

"Was that why? I thought you rewarded me with first-class status because you.. appreciated.. my skills."

Lindy give him a look. Typical male vanity. She ignored him. "Right now I want Hrungnir to eavesdrop on us. It will help her to understand what is really going on here."

"Which is?"

She was exasperated that he still betrayed her after all that wasted pillow talk. It was when she had telepathically explained to him her personal theories about Niflheim's possible fate. He knew full well that Keld was used in a plot to seduce her sister, so how did it never occur to Dorlaz that she would do exactly the same thing to him? He had actually believed that she had fallen for his masculine charms. He was otherwise rather intelligent, and yet like most men he was so vain when it came to his high opinion of his own virility.

And there were all those UAVs in her bed chamber, ugh. In most of her other rooms there were usually only a couple of those invisible flying insects, but in here it was typically five. And those nights with Dorlaz... She knew the only reason those 3D videos weren't passed around and watched by every demon in Niflheim was that Hrungnir didn't want to tip her off about all the round-the-clock spying.

She sighed again to herself. Apparently he was only feigning his spellbound interest in her pet theories about Niflheim's future. At least he had never betrayed her mental chats with him, until now that is.

"Good grief, I've been dropping hints to you since practically the first day we met. Let me tell you again out loud for Hrungnir's benefit: Niflheim and Asgard have reached a cusp point in history. Our choice is simple yet stark: death or transformation. The only decision now is whether we continue to exist or not. Can't you see that Asgard and Niflheim will live or die together?"

"And please tell me why again?"

"Because our shared mansion no longer has a mission. Our duty is done. Our job was to influence and shape events on Earth. We goddesses tried to increase happiness and strive for good, and you demons tried to oppose us, to encourage humans to fall into temptation, to work for evil. Both sides were balanced, more or less. You know that. It was because humans were supposed to ultimately decide their own fate."

"Ok, we all already know that. So?"

"The point is, the gates have been obliterated."

"Yeah, somebody sealed them. Hrungnir thinks it was Skuld using some kind of ingenious interdimensional space-warping device. It keeps us all imprisoned down here, locked in. It was cleverly done."

"No! Skuld had nothing to do with it. The gates aren't merely shut, they are _gone_. Poof! Don't you see? Our mansion has been completely sealed off and isolated, not just from Earth, but from the rest of the universe. We're all trapped here!"

Dorlaz sounded skeptical. "So you claim, that Asgard is boxed in too. That sounds very convenient. Too convenient."

"It's true. Asgard is also trapped."

"Pardon me if I don't believe you. It's nothing personal. I'm sorry, my lady, you are a very remarkable woman, and I admire you, and I would be honored to continue to be your consort. But please forgive me if I am a bit skeptical of your claims. You see, trust is at a premium down here, even between a master and her slave. I've asked you several times to prove to me that Asgard is in fact isolated as you claim. But you could not, since nobody here can go to up to Asgard to check on your story."

"Actually, you can."

"I can?"

"Yes. I can escort you up there myself, show you. Or show any other demon.. Hrungnir, Halval, anybody. Any demon can go up there right now and see it for themselves if they want."

"But all the gates are gone.."

"Yes, they are all gone, except for one. And it's not a gate. Gate tunnels are living entities, but this one is artificial. It is an interdimensional tunnel that was painstakingly drilled by the Fighting Wings right through the geometry stacks down to Niflheim. It was for an infiltration op into Niflheim led by my grandmother that happened about eighty years ago."

"Wait.. I heard rumors about that artificial tunnel. I thought it was a myth. And even if it exists, the rumors say it was permanently sealed a long time ago."

"It was. The tunnel is real, and you can unseal it from this end. The other end is wide open and leads to the Valhalla gate. It is the only remaining gate. Any demon is now free to emigrate from Niflheim and immigrate into Asgard. You can all go up there if you want. Live there."

"You're kidding. They would accept _us_?"

"Yes. I will go first and arrange for your safe passage to Asgard. You can live there. You can live there like every other demon that promises to live in peace. Asgard is a paradise, beautiful, so alive. And it's practically depopulated. There's endless room. And you don't have to be anyone's minion or slave anymore. You can be free."

Dorlaz began to be tempted. He knew what she told him about Asgard was true. It was indeed a beautiful place.

He then thought and frowned again. "It could still be a trap. There could be some kind of capture or ensealment device waiting for us at the other end."

"There isn't."

"Pardon my skepticism again. Hrungnir thinks your mother is some kind of super-genius engineer or something. That sounds rather paranoid to me, but I do know that Skuld does in fact have some good engineering skills. So even if Asgard was blocked somehow, couldn't it be possible that your mother has found some clever way around it to re-establish the connections to Earth? She could leave us all trapped down here. That would be perfect for you guys."

Lindy shook her head. "I know for a fact that all access has been permanently and utterly cut off. I know because it was predicted in the Blue File. No power in Asgard or Niflheim can escape our little timespace bubble anymore. This is it. All the gates are gone forever. Our mission on Earth is done. The only remaining connection is the interdimensional tunnel that the Fighting Wings drilled between Asgard and Niflheim."

"Hmm."

"I suspect that's not a coincidence, by the way. The Blue File predicted that our mutual isolation was happening sooner or later, the End Times, just not when exactly. That might be why Tyr decided to drill the tunnel in the first place."

Dorlaz tilted his head. "Huh? The 'End Times'?"

"It was foretold over 2000 years ago. Things are happening right now down on Earth that are amazing.. you won't believe it."

"Try me."

"Well, we don't know the timing exactly, just that it is happening: The implosion of the world financial system due to unsustainable debt. Then the wars, refugees, hunger, and famine that inevitably follows. A charismatic world leader takes over and blames and Jews and Christians as scapegoats. There is terrible persecution of Christians as 'hate mongers', Jews are called neo-cons, or worse. Everyone must publicly support the precepts of the new secular system, the new secular religion, indicated by a RFID chip embedded in your smartphone or your wrist - without which you can't buy anything - and maybe a tattoo on your forehead, kind of similar to ours. The new secular system will demand rigid political orthodoxy, with any dissent shouted down in public. The resisters, the faithful remnant, will be mercilessly persecuted by government bureaucrats using new regulations and laws, then attacked by street thugs, then simply shot or bombed and their churches and synagogues burned."

And it was already starting to happen in several countries. Some perhaps more, some less. It had begun even before the gates were removed.

Dorlaz shrugged, "Frankly, that sounds like something Hild would like to see. Evil winning, and all that."

"You don't understand. The ending isn't what you think. You aren't going to like it. It is the good guys that ultimately win. You see, the real Power of the universe is coming down to Earth again, a second time, directly."

"Wait, you mean..?"

"Yes, the One is coming back. Him. And He will make our childish internecine cat-fights between Asgard and Niflheim look like a pair of little brats flinging sand in a toy sandbox. The real Power is descending, Dorlaz. In fact it's just getting started. Then there follows the major natural upheavals. A meteor named Wormwood triggers a red algae bloom that kills one-third of all aquatic life. Then huge earthquakes will shake the continental plates, and a GOES level X-40 CME solar flare will blow from the sun that will fry anyone standing outside for more than an hour. That solar flare will make the Carrington Event of 1859 look like a kid's sparkler - all the world's unshielded electronics will be fried worse than any possible human nuclear EMP attack. Then the Yellowstone caldera blows up, bigger than the Deccan Traps, a single volcanic caldera that envelops much of the state of Wyoming, thus ending most life on the North American continent and effectively wiping out the United States and Canada as world powers."

"Ok.. that sounds kind of major."

"Just you wait. The resulting nuclear winter is what really does things in. The sun, moon, and stars are darkened by the worldwide cloud of ash. There is literally no daylight anymore. The air is almost unbreathable, people choking on their own tongues."

"Ouch. What happened to that charismatic leader you mentioned?"

"He really goes to town. He scapegoats Israel for the calamity. That country survives the disaster better than any other, with their advanced technology, desert irrigation and illuminated UV-glassed greenhouses shielding the worst of the solar flares and darkness. So the charismatic leader blames Israel. He organizes and launches a huge surprise military attack, to attack Israel, to finally wipe out the Jews. The main assault will come surging from the north via Lebanon, though every surrounding country will participate. The battle climaxes at a hill called Har-megiddo, just north of Tel Aviv. When Israel's last survivors are all standing on that hill at that final desperate moment, surrounded on all sides, when all hope is lost, He comes down to Earth for a second time and ends the last battle, personally."

"How do you know all this?"

"Like I said, it was foretold 2000 years ago. It's confirmed in the Blue File."

"And you never shared the Blue File with us! That's why Eihwaz tried to nab it."

Lindy slumped her shoulders and sighed, "Yes, I admit that was a strategic political mistake on the Daitenkaicho's part. I see that now. I'll talk to Thoriko or Skuld, whoever is in charge up there now, and make sure that Niflheim receives a copy from now on."

"Hrungnir will love that. But wait, won't that put Asgard at a strategic disadvantage? You guys have rules and restrictions that we don't have."

"Dorlaz, our war is over. It's time to climb out of the darkness. Join the light. Let me reconnect the tunnel. I'll go up with you to Asgard. I'll guarantee safe passage for you and any other demon that wants to live in peace. You will have a wonderful home, with green things, sunshine, waterfalls, a shared paradise for both our peoples."

Then Dorlaz heard a buzzing noise. Lindy noticed it too, then she grabbed the air with her hand. She had captured a small mechanical insect. She held it up to her face. "Hrungnir, you are invited too. Go up and see for yourself. Asgard is just as trapped as Niflheim. We are boxed in, same as you. We have no where to go. Everything I said is true."

The insect stopped buzzing and sat on her wrist. It was looking at her. Lindy brought it closer. "If we don't stop fighting soon, if we don't reconcile, the Blue File says that we will all be destroyed. God is going to wipe our shared mansion out of existence. I'll ask the Daitenkaicho to show you the page in the Blue File so you can see it for yourself. We will all become extinct, or worse. It could be like we never existed. We have no purpose anymore. This way we might survive, and we might even flourish. And.."

Dorlaz said, "And?"

".. some day the gate to Earth may reopen again, and we will get to see paradise on Earth. I long to see that myself, more than anything."

The insect looked at her. Hrungnir's voice came from it: "I'm coming to your quarters. Let's talk."

Dorlaz was happy. "Good." He was relieved his job was over. He still didn't trust Lindy, although he was beginning to suspect that she believed all that malarky herself. Maybe Skuld did a con job on her. Still, her story about the gate obliteration needed to be checked out.

{ Lindy: Dorlaz, wait. Please, I need you. More than ever. }

{ Dorlaz: Hmm? }

{ Lindy: She's coming here to my quarters to kill me. I'm certain of it. Then she will try to martial a surprise attack on Asgard using the tunnel. And that will end our existence. All of us. }

{ Dorlaz: What? That's stupid. We need to check out your story first, to see if Asgard is really imprisoned just like us. That's why she is coming here in person. To go up and see for herself. Yes? }

{ Lindy: If Hrungnir was rational, you would be correct. That would be the her next logical move. But she won't do it. She will simply try to kill me, then she will immediately attack Asgard through the tunnel using everything she's got. }

{ Dorlaz: But why? }

{ Lindy: Because Skuld killed her sister. It is her desire for revenge for Eihwaz's death. She is insane with hate. }

{ Dorlaz: Huh? That's foolish. Eihwaz had threatened and attacked Skuld, then Eihwaz killed Skuld's husband right in front of her! It was self defense! }

{ Lindy: It doesn't matter. She loved her sister more than you know. Hrungnir is hell-bent on revenge. She doesn't care if she destroys everything in her quest for vengeance. Even herself. }

{ Dorlaz: Sigh.. yeah I know she's pretty wound up sometimes. I've heard her rant about you and Skuld endlessly.. you might be right. }

{ Lindy: Dorlaz, please. This is your finest hour. This is your chance to be a hero. If you want to save demonkind, if you want to save both Niflheim and Asgard, then you have to help me stop her. She'll be here in a couple minutes.. }

Lindy was wrong. Hrungnir had dived into her quarters using a spatial device that enabled her to fly straight through the living rock at high speed. And she was wearing her stealth camo cloak, invisible.

If she was not so enraged she might have resisted the urge to scream as she dived in to kill Lindy from behind.

* * *

Troubadour was standing astride a rocky hillock in the park. A good sized crowd had gathered around him below. Although it was night, there was sufficient light from the torches to illuminate his face with a dull red glow.

He was in high dudgeon as he addressed the crowd in a loud voice. "So, are we going to stand for this?"

There were some reactions from the crowd, "No!"

"Are we going to let this demon-lover rule over us?"

The reaction of the crowd was louder, "No!"

"Are we going to allow this.. half-breed.. to defile us? To ruin the purity of our race?"

"No!" "No mixed bloods!"

"Are we going to let this half-breed who married a _demon_ , to succeed as the Daitenkaicho, to rule over us?"

"No!" "It's an abomination!" "Purebloods only!"

Chrono was flying CAP overhead. It was dark enough so that she could fly low and remain unseen and still overhear Troubadour's rabble-rousing speech. She flew in lazy circles overhead as she listened. The crowd could not spot her black silhouette above them, even against the stars of the cloudless night sky.

They could not see her silhouette occluding the stars because there weren't any. The sky was solid black, the stars all hidden from view. It was proof beyond any doubt that something, or someone, had sealed their mansion in an spacetime bubble from which they could not escape.

As she heard Troubadour's shouted jeremiad beneath her, she cringed. _I can't believe I almost married this jerk._

Chrono was more than a little concerned about what was happening below. A revolt like this had never happened before.

Using her ability as a first-class goddess to send telepathic messages, she quickly alerted Skuld about the rapidly developing situation. She had urged the Daitenkaicho to come down here right away, to defuse it and address the crowd.

But Skuld had refused to intervene. And so she stood quietly on the balcony of her personal quarters a few miles away as she listened indirectly to Troubadour's diatribe via her telepathic link with Chrono. Chrono, being first-class, transmitted Troubadour's incendiary incitements to Skuld via the link. Chrono had special training as a combat Valkyrie so she could do it for up to an hour before mental exhaustion set in.

Skuld made a frown as she listened. Thoriko was standing next to her mother in silence. Being a fully trained first-class combat Valkyrie like her mother, Thoriko was able to listen in to Chrono's transmissions as well. Her face remained impassive.

Troubadour was well into his oration: "We all know the prophecy, right? About Thoriko, the Dark Daughter? We all know how Thoriko is supposed to rule Niflheim. It is no secret that she was born for that role, we all know it. You've all heard the rumors about her, about what she is really like: violent, angry, mentally ill, ..."

{ Skuld: Don't listen to him. He's an ignorant fool. }

Thoriko remained silent.

".. wicked, and evil. And then Skuld pulls this.. this.. switch on us. Now she wants Thoriko to be the next Daitenkaicho. It's a trick!"

There were more shouts from the crowd, "Treachery!" "No!"

Troubadour was now in full demagogue mode, "And so now Skuld wants a demon-lover to be the next President of Heaven! And what do you say to that?"

"No!"

"I can't hear you!"

"NO!"

{ Keiichi: This is getting ugly. Maybe we should explain it to them... }

{ Skuld: No. Anyone who believes Troubadour's demagoguery will not listen to any explanations from us at this point, no matter how true our words. }

{ Keiichi: But our survival is at stake. Everyone's. }

{ Skuld: Even so. }

Thoriko finally spoke up. "Mother, please. His attacks are against me, not against you. Look, I have an idea. Please let me be the scapegoat. Have everyone blame me. Tell them I pressured you, tricked you, into sending Lindy so that I could be Daitenkaicho here. That I lusted for the power of Asgard, to sit on the throne in the rebuilt Great Hall of Valhalla.

{ Skuld: No. }

"Mother, please. Let me go to the mob. I suffered those verbal accusations over and over my whole life. This is no different, just more open. Let them attack me. Focus their hate on me. Then you can announce you had a change of heart. That way you and Father can be saved.

{ Skuld: No. I could never live with myself if I did that. Not even to save Asgard. I know that God did something like that with his own Son, as a sacrifice to save the world, but.. no. I'm just not that strong. No. }

Keiichi thought about it carefully. { No. Not yet. Not unless there is no other option. }

Sena then climbed up on the rock next to Troubadour. She yelled, "And don't forget, Skuld married a mortal!"

{ Skuld: Heh, you're up next tiger. }

{ Keiichi: Hey.. }

Troubadour nodded his head vigorously. "Thank you, Sena. I almost forgot about that. Sena is right! Mortals do not belong in Heaven. They are fallen creatures. Did you know, back in the Beginning, that humans were originally kicked out of Paradise? It's true! They are fallen! As much as any demon!"

Sena yelled, "Skuld married a _mortal_! Can you believe it? It's an unspeakable act! Then when the mortal died, as they always will, she did even more unspeakable things to her own _mind_.. she defiled herself! With him!"

{ Skuld: Grr.. Keiichi, you know better than to listen to that crap. You are a far better being than any immortal cheering in that crowd tonight. }

"Keiichi, Mother is right. They are just as flawed as any human, if not more. Father, you are the finest man I know."

{ Keiichi: And you are the finest woman in Asgard, Thoriko. Well, uh, after my wife perhaps. }

{ Skuld: Wait, 'perhaps'? }

{ Thoriko: Heh. }

Troubadour then yelled, "And now Skuld wants her demon-loving daughter, the mentally unstable half-breed demon-lover, to rule over Asgard! To rule over us with a demon by her side!"

Skuld grumbled, "Troubadour is really asking for it.."

Thoriko grabbed the railing with her hands. "He's such a fool. Can't he see that Keld has completely changed? He is now more loyal to Heaven, more true to our ideals and our philosophy, than any of that crowd down there! We detected all the mental tampering that Eihwaz did on him, and we purged it, all of it, at great cost, don't they remember?"

That was true. The tampering with Keld's mind was deep and devious. It required fundamental psychic surgery to root it out. Skuld was reluctant to allow it, as the risk of brain damage was very high, but Keld insisted on it. And so Doctor Nie had done the deed. Keld survived, but barely.

And more impressively, where Doctor Nie couldn't remove the deepest of the implanted personality engrams, Keld was able to, by some miracle, remove them _himself_. By sheer will power. It had almost destroyed him, but he did it. For he loved her that much. He did it for her.

Skuld made a small smile. "Yes, my wonderful daughter, that Keld survived that much mental trauma was remarkable. Do you remember how we begged you to forsake him? When we throught he could not be saved? You were so stubborn, you refused. I was so angry and upset with you, but you proved me wrong. You saved him. And then he helped save you as well. Indeed, you saved each other. He really does love you that much, with a depth and strength that I still envy between you."

"Yes, thank you, Mother. I was so afraid when he insisted that he undergo deep deprogramming, regardless of the danger of suffering devastating psychic trauma. I begged him not to do it, but he went and did it anyway. He almost died. What stronger test of love can there be?"

Skuld touched her daughter's cheek. "Enough. You and Keld have already convinced us, my dear daughter."

Keld's mind still needed time to heal. He mostly slept and dreamed. During his rehabilitation he awoke only for brief periods of time. Doctor Nie had said that he needed several more weeks of strict bed rest in the infirmary before he could be on his feet again for any length of time.

Skuld smiled at his daughter. "And after he is fully recovered, you will become the Daitenkaicho and he will become your veto-spouse." It was because Lindy had previously explained to Skuld, via a secret communique, that having a demon as the Daitenkaicho's veto-spouse was absolutely required for the unification of Asgard and Niflheim, and that it was essential for their continued existence as a mansion. And so Skuld agreed she would abdicate her position and step down as the Daitenkaicho, and in her place appoint Thoriko and Keld as the new ruling couple, to rule jointly over the unified realm of Asgard and Niflheim.

Keiichi, being the better spokesman, had patiently tried to explain all this to the other gods and goddesses, why it was essential for their future survival that a goddess and demon jointly rule, but many rejected it. It was because Troubadour had accused Skuld of concocting the story, that Lindy's communique was a forgery, a ruse, that it was merely a trick to justify putting her remaining daughter in the seat of power.

Troubadour was still attempting to gain that seat of power for himself. He planned to do it through Chrono, whom he was courting again. It was Keiichi who had the difficult task of explaining to Chrono, delicately and patiently, that Troubadour never really loved her, that he was merely using her for his own ends. She was saddened and broke up with him. And so Troubadour next changed his tactics. Skuld speculated that his next target would likely be Sena, the next highest ranking goddess after Skuld, Thoriko, and Chrono. But to bypass the latter he had to first discredit them all. So he was now inciting open rebellion.

Skuld sighed. "Unfortunately, my dear daughter, the trust that we put in Keld and in you doesn't matter to the crowd down there. No one can change the mind of a demagogue like Troubadour and his followers. Facts don't matter to a mob."

"But Mother, Keld is purified. And he's changed me as well. All the feelings of anger within me are gone. They really are. All I have now is sadness."

"Yes, I know. You are both ready. But the crowd below? They will never believe you. They think that your joint bloodline, your heritage, is all that matters. 'No mixed blood.' But what really matters is what lives in your hearts." For indeed that was the key.

Troubadour was still ranting. "Are we going to let this.. this abomination rule over us?"

"No!" "Stop her!" "Kill her!"

{ Keiichi: This is going too far.. }

Troubadour then pointed his finger at the air. "And don't forget that evil demon-husband of hers. Did you know that the veto-spouse position is actually considered to be ranked _higher_ than even the Daitenkaicho herself? And Skuld wants to put a demon in that highest position of power? To have a demon rule over us? Again, I say NO!"

More boos and epithets were shouted from the crowd.

And then something unexpected happened.

There was a massive explosion. It lit up the sky like daylight, but it was red and blinding. The explosion seemed to be centered at the Valhalla gate, located about one kilometer above the crowd.

{ Chrono: Emergency! Ultra! Scramble all wings! }

Thoriko was alarmed. "Mother, what is it!?"

Skuld gripped the railing for strength. "Invasion. Lindy has failed her mission. It's a sneak attack from Niflheim."

"No..."

"Yes. Both sides are plunging to their own self-destruction. Both Niflheim and Asgard. Look at them. Each group trying to save itself, and instead only succeeding in destroying themselves. What an irony."

{ Chrono: I'm hit! Fall back! }

So it had come to pass. This was the 'bad path' that was predicted in the Blue File, where Niflheim and Asgard would burn down their shared mansion in an orgy of destruction and revolt, truly the last war. They were committing mutual suicide.

Skuld looked up at the red light emanating from the gate. It lit up her face like an Old Testament prophet. "And I fear that God will now judge us harshly. We are no more deserving of His mercy than the poor souls on Earth." _Less actually,_ she thought. _We should have known better. We have no excuse._

{ Chrono: I'm hit! I'm hit! Oh, this really hurts.. }

"We brought down His wrath upon ourselves." She looked up at the red sky. "And now I am afraid that our mansion is finished."

She then looked around. "Thoriko?"

It was at that point she noticed that her stronger daughter had disappeared.

* * *

**A/N:**

In case you are wondering, the sequence of events that Lindy paraphrased from Revelation 6-16 is a standard conventional pre-millennialist timeline that is generally supported by mainstream Evangelicals. Any non-Biblical extrapolations in this chapter - such as why the USA disappeared, or why the sun turned dark - are my own inventions purely for story purposes.

I believe that post-millennialism and a-millennialism aren't supported by close Biblical exegesis. And I'm avoiding getting into any deep discussions of, say, dispensationalism versus covenant theology, because I believe that would get too technical for the lay readers of this story. (If you care, I'm dispensationalist.)

-HuuskerDu


	14. The Last Battle (Part 1)

**A/N:**

For background music I recommend that you listen to one of your favorite epic soundtracks as you read the following chapters. Or you can play one of these suggested YouTube OSTs: [Two Steps from Hell - Heart of Courage (Extended Version)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKUeZQbMF0) (8:13) by afrosmaximus, [Requiem for a dream Soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYAaN9EMpE0) (4:07) by Wolf Skull Gaming, or [Mass Effect 2 OST - Suicide Mission](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTsD2FjmLsw) (4:46) by asmodejan.

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Last Battle (Part 1)**

The Last Battle had begun. Demons were pouring out of the gate like a cloud of locusts, splitting off into waves, then diving down. Various forms of energy were flashing out from the plunging swarm: heat rays, lightning, plasma bolts, magic lances. Others were shooting strange weapons, some kinetic, some particulate, some invisible - the latter causing huge percussive blasts on the ground.

Then great engines of war emerged from the gate, flying platforms hundreds of meters long, with huge siege canons firing broadsides like a Spanish galleon. They looked much like the great Martian flying war platforms in the film _John Carter_. The bottoms were shielded with Adamite, impregnable. Swarms of soldiers were repelling down the lines from the great craft.

It was chaos. The gods and goddesses scattered in a wild panic, overwhelmed.

{ Skuld: Chrono! Sit-rep! }

Silence. { Keiichi: We lost her. }

{ Chrono: No.. I'm here. I'm down. This hurts.. }

{ Skuld: Stop whining! You're a combat Valkyrie, so suck it up soldier! }

{ Chrono: Okay. Uh.. }

{ Skuld: Sit-rep! }

{ Chrono: Massive invasion, I think it's 100%. Everthing Hrungnir's got. I saw wyrm formations, some standalone, some with Uruk-Hai riding them, also lots of L2 and L3 standard types. And the usual animal types - great spiders, giant locusts, demon wolves in standard pack formation. No champions though. Some war platforms, but only normal ones. The big guns haven't shown up yet. }

{ Keiichi: Crap. We haven't seen the big guns yet? }

{ Skuld: No. Hrungnir will hold those back. }

{ Chrono: I haven't seen Hrungnir yet. That's odd. Oh man.. I'm gonna pass out. Sorry. }

{ Skuld: Wait, no Hrungnir? You sure? }

It was because in all such battles the Daimakaicho always leads the attack. Always. Vanity demands she be at the front of the line. She is usually riding some fearsome war-beast, such as a dragon, while wearing glorious armor and wielding a great weapon, usually a unique and fearsome sword or lance that can kill anything.

Only another goddess of equal rank can possibly hurt her. Only the Daitenkaicho can fight her. Tradition says that the Daimakaicho and the Daitenkaicho face off at some point in the battle for a one-on-one fight.

Skuld had a horrible thought. { Please tell me you didn't see Lindy leading them! Please! }

The link was silent. Chrono was gone.

{ Keiichi: No, Lindy's dead. Don't you see? }

{ Skuld: I don't understand.. }

{ Keiichi: It's so simple: Lindy was the Daimakaicho. But so was Hrungnir, unofficially. Succession down there is always by assassination or ensealment. So the two Daimakaicho's finally faced off. The big mano-o-mano fight in this battle has already happened! }

{ Skuld: And my daughter lost, and now she's gone. } Her heart was black with grief.

{ Keiichi: No, she won! Yeah, she's dead, but that's why Hrungnir isn't up there leading the battle. She took her out. They went down together. It's totally Lindy's style to sacrifice herself like that. }

Skuld realized it was probably due to a kinetic impact between two L1s, the only sure-fire way for one L1 to kill another. The attacker smashed into the target at the highest possible speed. It always killed them both. Always. It was how Belldandy stopped Hild at the start of Ragnarok. It was the only way such a powerful being could possibly be stopped.

Skuld gave herself ten seconds to mourn the death of her beautiful daughter. She was the bravest goddess in the history of Asgard, going down alone into Hell undercover. And to surround herself with all that terrible evil, that hate. To embrace it all. All out of love.

{ Skuld: Where did Thoriko go? }

{ Keiichi: She just dived into the battle, to end it one way or another. The same as what we should be doing. }

{ Skuld: Why should we fight? Even without Hrungnir out there, It's hopeless. Tactically we are screwed. Most of the goddesses won't even follow my orders anymore. Even if we somehow won, Asgard has revolted. Our shared mansion is finished. }

{ Keiichi: Because we have a duty to our people. We have to fight on, to save them from themselves. }

{ Skuld: It won't work. They're too pig headed.. }

{ Keiichi: Even so. }

{ Skuld: Give it up already. Our mansion is done. The Blue File clearly warned us that if we tore ourselves apart in a civil war, we are toast. You read it yourself: Every living soul will be destroyed. That's why I refused to fight Troubadour - because I didn't want to start the civil war that would end our existence. But now Niflheim kicked it off. Everybody's fighting everybody else. We're screwed. We're done. It's Game Over. }

{ Keiichi: Look, I've had enough of your damn fatalism already! What happened to the fiery woman I fell in love with? The woman who never stepped back from any challenge? Who always rushed headlong into every battle? }

{ Skuld: I'm sorry, Keiichi. It's over. We all lost. }

{ Keiichi: No! Never give up like that! Skuld, if you feel so defeated now, if you won't even fight to save your kingdom, then give me control of your body. I'll end this battle myself. }

{ Skuld: Sigh.. no.. we'll both do it together. We'll fight to the bitter end. Go out in a blaze of glory. }

{ Keiichi: That's better. Never give up. }

{ Skuld: You're right, I've been too passive during the past few decades. We should fight even if there is no hope. It's our duty. Thanks for the verbal ass kicking, Keiichi, I deserved it. }

{ Keiichi: You're welcome. And like I said, don't give up. Now, there is just one more thing.. }

{ Skuld: What? }

{ Keiichi: You know I love you. So please listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: Skuld, you remember how during the past eighty years I've always begged you, over and over, to please calm down, to not get angry, to control your temper? }

{ Skuld: Yes, my darling, and it worked. I'm pretty mellow nowadays. }

{ Keiichi: Well, forget everything I ever said about that. I want you to get _pissed_. I want you to really cut loose. I want to see the old angry Skuld go roaring out. }

{ Skuld: Keiichi, when I get angry I lose all my self control. I become manic. It makes Aang in the Avatar State look like an upset kitten. It's too dangerous. }

{ Keiichi: Look, what have we got to lose? Do it. I'll moderate you. Veto when I need to. }

{ Skuld: I'm not sure even you can stop me. Nobody can. }

{ Keiichi: I will. }

She knew the strength of Keiichi's will.

{ Skuld: Okay.. It's been a long time since I lost my temper, but I think I can still do it, let's see... }

She started to get herself worked up. She began talking to herself: "Those suicidal idiots. Those stupid morons.. what the hell is wrong with them? Don't they know they are destroying their own future, cutting their own throats? Grr.."

{ Skuld: Yeah, I'm starting to want to go kick some asses now. }

{ Keiichi: That's good. Keep thinking that. Get upset. Get pissed. Let me see the old Skuld that I used to know and love. }

{ Skuld: Darn tootin'. }

"It's clobberin' time!"

{ Keiichi: And for once I will actually _help_ you break things. }

{ Skuld: Wow, even Mr. Pacifist wants to mix it up! }

"Let's go knock some heads!"

{ Keiichi: Good, let's go help Thoriko kick some ass. Let's fly! }

She made a nasty grin. { No dear, we're not flying. I've got something more impressive in mind. }

He read her thoughts. { Ooh, I like that even better.. }

And so the Daitenkaicho prepared to go to war.

* * *

Thoriko was desperate. The battle was going badly. She was the only first-class goddess on the battlefield. And she was starting to draw too much attention from the enemy. They began to focus on her. She didn't care.

_Good. Don't hurt those children. Hurt me instead! Bring it on!_

Her second-sense felt something behind her. She spun around and sliced it in half with a wind cut. The two halves of the giant spider fell apart.

The other enemies, the sentient enemies, were smart enough not to get too close. Instead they let their range weapons do the talking for them. The kinetic weapons swooshed at her body, missing only by inches. She was flying at only 3 meters, using the undulating landscape for cover, doing what fighter pilots called jinking: random shifts in speed and direction at least every two seconds. It was a standard anti-sniper defense technique taught to her by Chrono. She knew the snipers were still far enough away that they needed two seconds to lead their target.

The mortar explosions were getting closer, too close. They were getting her range now. She knew that a splash from an indirect hit from a fluorosulfuric acid grenade or a lithium diisopropylamide cluster bomb could cause painful and potentially fatal injury to a goddess. These ultimate chemicals of destruction were jellied like napalm so they would stick to whatever surface they touched: armor, clothing, or living flesh. And then the strongest acid, or the strongest base, in known history would eat away, unstoppable. It was like the acid blood of the xenomorphs in _Aliens_ , only one hundred times more powerful.

This is what hit Chrono in the arm. It was burning her flesh away, unstoppable, slowly working its way up her elbow, then into her shoulder, then into her heart, which would then kill her. It was a miracle she lasted as long as she did before she passed out from the pain. Thoriko had no time to find her to perform the necessary life-saving amputation.

Thoriko created a standing wind vortex around herself to deflect the napalm mortars. Then she spotted a target of opportunity: A large group of Uruk-Hai wyrm riders were moving in formation in her direction. With her eagle eyes she recognized their war crests. They were the _erīto senshi_ , the elite personal guard of Hrungnir herself. Two of them had personally escorted Lindy to her doom. Her anger swelled. She wanted them. She took a chance and landed. It was necessary so she could whirl up Mjölnir.

She was the only goddess who could physically lift that greatest of all warhammers, a posthumous gift from her namesake uncle. The name, Mjölnir, which means 'that which smashes', meant that whatsoever she might smite would be destroyed by that hammer. And if she threw it, it would never miss, and it would always return to her hand afterward.

Like all the greatest artifacts of the gods, the hammer was sentient. She spoke to the living hammer of doom, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, my lady. Use me."

She started to whirl it in a vertical circular arc, faster and faster, the angular momentum pouring energy into it, charging it up. "Fly where I wish. Now fly! Fly!"

And the hammer flew. It arced left, up, left again, aligned with the wyrm riders at a parallel altitude, speed, and direction. Then it instantly changed its velocity vector by 90 degrees and zoomed in a straight horizontal line and at a terrific speed. The hammer neatly punched a square hole through the hearts of 16 dragons and came out the other side. Then it returned to her hand.

The great orcs fell from the sky.

_That felt good. Too good. I'll worry about that later._

She paused for a second to admire her handiwork. That was a mistake. In stopping like that, a sniper finally found his target. She was hit.

She was lucky. The wind vortex shifted the projectile 8 centimeters left of her neck, so the decapitation attempt failed. Instead the bullet sliced off a chunk of her shoulder.

She ignored it. She couldn't afford to waste the energy to regenerate it anyway. Instead she intensified the vortex and tightened it, like a spinning figure skater bringing in her arms to increase the angular momentum. The winds could now deflect bullets. It also meant that no melee fighter could touch her. But she knew she couldn't sustain it for long. Not by herself.

She took off and starting jinking again, with the powerful vortex following her as she flew. She was shooting lightning bolts in continuous arcs, sweeping them back and like a cutting beam. She hit the bottom of one of the flying platforms, but the Adamite armor absorbed the hit.

Then her eyes flared yellow as she growled like an animal. She was filled with anger.

Previously she had believed that her feelings of resentment and anger, all due to decades worth of emotional abuse - the shunning, mistrust, prejudice, and fear of her - were purged, that all the hidden anger inside of her was gone.

_"But Mother, Keld is purified. And he's changed me as well. All the feelings of anger within me are gone. They really are. All I have now is sadness."_

She was wrong. Those feelings were not gone. They were simply buried, suppressed.

For there was one thing that could rekindle that red fire of furious anger.

_For Lindy._

For you see, Thoriko's heart contained not the blue fire of Belldandy: the fire of creation that sustains and nurtures life and makes it grow. Instead, her heart contained the red fire of Skuld: the fire of wrath, storming, full of outrage and fury, that punishes or destroys.

She fired again with pure vengeful wrath in her heart. This lightning bolt was 10 times more powerful than the last. It blinded anyone who saw it. It perforated the platform. For a second nothing happened, then it lit up inside. The Adamite shield punched out, revealing the steel ribbing of the superstructure for a moment like a dissected skeleton in a laboratory. Then it flashed again and blew apart. The explosive sonic wave blasted all the flying combat formations within a 200 meter radius, taking most of them out as well.

Her attacks were working. The enemy formations were splitting, the standard group attacks were slowing. She was causing confusion in the enemy lines.

She focused her vengeful wrath and took out another platform. Her side was hopelessly scattered, but the enemy was now breaking up as well.

She felt a rush of excitement as she gave in to her feelings.

_Lindy, look at me now! I'm doing this for you!_

Then she used a sonic spell to roar a challenge. Everyone heard it.

"Hear me! I am Thoriko, daughter of Skuld, daughter of Anzus. I am the goddess of lightning, wind, and wrath. I am a first class goddess. You are not. None of you. So if you value your lives, lay down your weapons. And if you do not, then I will _end_ you."

The enemy lines briefly wavered. They knew her threat was very real. A first class goddess can raise mountains or change the course of great rivers, even destroy a world.

And then.

And then.

And then she saw it.

It came shooting out of the gate at incredible speed. Her combat-trained Valkyrie eyes tracked the target. It was already starting to cast an epic-level spell.

Aimed directly at her.

The first of the big guns had shown up, and Thoriko was now being targeted.

With her eagle eyes she saw her attacker. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear.

_No... No! Please! I surrender! Don't kill me!_

Then a blinding wave of light impacted her body, shoving her back and down into a shallow hillside, which exploded.

And then Thoriko knew no more.

The victor then quickly landed at the edge the crater that was formerly a hill, and she smiled a nasty smile as she pulled off her spiked WWI war helmet and mask, and shook out her blond locks of hair from underneath. "Sorry I was late."

Her minions then landed several yards behind her.

Thrymr and Halval.

For the true Daimakaicho, the true Leader of Hell, had now joined the battle.


	15. The Last Battle (Part 2)

**Chapter 15: The Last Battle (Part 2)**

Troubadour squatted as he hid inside the bunker, peering through the narrow slit to view the carnage that was unfolding outside. His eyes were wide. "I cannot believe this! We were so close. So close! And now this!?"

Sena was standing behind him, shaking her head slowly. Troubadour was busy peering outside so he did not see the look of disgust on her face. She felt amazed that at one time she was actually in love with this jerk.

The small woman was quite beautiful. She was petite and full figured - not overweight, merely rubenesque and curvy. She had long flowing red hair and an impressive bosom that Skuld would have envied.

Troubadour had lusted after Sena for over a century. Urd caught them once when she was still supposed to be Troubadour's beaux. The memory of Urd's furious lightning hit to her backside still smarted and humiliated her to this day. So even back then she had already taken a dislike to the children of Tyr.

Sena was wearing a combat Valkyrie suit. That was a gross violation, of course, for she was not a combat Valkyrie. Not anymore.

It was because she had recently been inducted into the Fighting Wings by Chrono, who, being desperate to find new recruits willing to take on the near-suicidal role of a Valkyrie, quickly accepted her enlistment with gratitude. One of the inducements to enroll in the Fighting Wings was a fast-track to first-class goddess status. So Sena had taken the first-class exam.

Taken, but not passed. For she had failed due to her amorality and inability to follow direction. Then she got booted out of the Fighting Wings for insubordination.

During her dishonorable discharge from the Fighting Wings, Chrono had given Sena a stern lecture, a real dressing down. She patiently explained that the transverse had a structure and design, and that Sena had darn well needed to learn it and understand her place within it. That was Sena's real failing. Chrono explained that there is a 'great chain of being', a _scala naturae._ The chain starts from God at the transfinite apex and progresses downward step-by-step down through the angelic hierarchy down to themselves. Chrono admitted their place in the chain was in reality quite low, that the Asgardians calling themselves 'gods' and 'goddesses' was actually rather presumptuous, and not even accurate, since they were not even immortal in the true sense, being born and getting killed all the time, something the Fighting Wings knew all too well.

Many human philosophers had misused the notion of _scala naturae_ , a great chain of being, and had over-developed it and abused it. In particular it was used to justify monarchical rule, the Divine Right of Kings, followed by the aristocracy and then the peasants. That was wrong, for all humans are equal in the eyes of God. All humans are on the same 'level' so to speak.

The humans' level was right on the line, straddling the dividing line between mortal flesh and spirit. This was why they struggled so much between fleshly desires versus spiritual ones. They yearn for a relationship with God. No other animal on Earth thinks this way. Only humans desire to transcend their own level.

Then she explained that the humans' level was in fact was not far from their own.

That really got Sena's hackles up, that humans were actually rather close to Asgardians' level. _Asgardians are gods! We are gods!_ Chrono was rather annoyed at Sena's protest so she decided to fire both barrels at her: Humans had a privilege that the Asgardians did not have - a unique shortcut path that zoomed waaay up, that there is a Bridge, a Way, to jump from their paltry level up, up to near the top. It was kind of like playing the kids game of Chutes and Ladders and hitting the ladder.

And the ladder was alive. But there were chutes as well.

Sena harumphed and walked out.

And so she was booted out of the Wings. She didn't care. The important thing is that she was a member of the Fighting Wings long enough to earn the opportunity to take the first-class exam. She took the exam and failed.

And that was what she wanted.

It was because the first-class exam required temporarily delegating first-class powers to the testee, who is then evaluated by a real first-class goddess as her proctor. After Sena failed the test, she used a trick that Troubadour shared with her to pretend to relinquish those powers back to Chrono while still keeping them in secret.

So she still had secret access to first-class goddess powers. It was a flagrant violation of the rules, and it could be punished by death. _I have the will to power. To really use it, uninhibited by rules. We are beyond rules. We are beyond levels. We have no limits. We are gods! Why don't they understand that?_

Even though she was not a member of the Wings any longer, she still retained many of the famous abilities of that rank, such as eagle eyes, rapid healing ability, and the ability to transmit telepathic messages. And intercept them. Eavesdrop on them. Plus of course she had the same combat training.

In her protective white uniform the beautiful redhead crossed her arms behind the cowering Plum Tree Spirit. She continued to shake her head slowly. She was completely and utterly disgusted with him.

Why was she so disgusted? It was not because Troubadour was wearing a steel helmet and flack jacket that made him look ridiculous. Nor was it because he was cowering in a bunker to protect himself from the battle that was raging above, revealing himself to be the total coward he was.

Nor was she disgusted because he was failing to help his fellow citizens. For although his powers were limited, he did have some. It included the power to create hoards of nasty bugs that could at least irritate or annoy the enemy. He also had the power of song, including healing songs, and other songs that could encourage bravery and morale.

Nor was she disgusted because he wasn't trying to rally the troops to join together against a common enemy, to temporarily suspend his attempted revolution until the war was over.

Nor was it because of his foolish plan to overthrow Skuld that required Sena to marry him. Troubadour's plan would have placed her in the seat of power as the new Daitenkaicho with him as her veto-spouse. She knew that his real plan was, of course, to exert his influence over her and rule everything in secret from behind the throne.

The fool.

She was disgusted for the simple reason that she already knew it would never happen. He would never become her spouse. Never. She shuddered at the mere thought of it. It was bad enough she had to endure his groping lechery.

As soon as she became the Daitenkaicho she had a grace period of six months before she had to marry. Sena intended, before that happened, to rewrite the Charter: No more veto-spouses. She planned to boot Troubadour and rule alone as an absolute monarch, much like the days of yore when Asgard was first established by the All-Father.

Now, the original rules set down by the All-Father that governed Asgard were immutable. Those precepts could not be changed. But additional rules could be added as long as they were in harmony with the Law of Asgard. This included the new rule that the Daitenkaicho must have a veto-spouse, which was added as an amendment to the Charter over 2000 years ago. It was added as a safe-guard, a check against excessive use or abuse of power.

But, as Sena knew, any amendment that could be added to the Charter could also be abolished later. Now, a change to the Charter could not be done lightly. It required a very special and solemn ceremony attended by all of the first-class gods and goddesses in good standing. At the end of the special ceremony, a two-thirds majority vote was required to change the Charter, plus the assent of the Daitenkaicho.

But if Sena's plan came to fruition, it would be simple.

They would all be dead. Except for her. One vote, one rule. Do the ceremony by herself. Done.

And after that, she would find a way to overthrow even the Law of Asgard.

No rules.

Because we are gods.

She smiled.

* * *

The first of the big guns had shown up, and Thoriko was now being targeted.

With her eagle eyes she saw her attacker. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear.

_No... No! Please! I surrender! Don't kill me!_

Then a blinding wave of light impacted her body, shoving her back and down into a shallow hillside, which exploded.

And then Thoriko knew no more.

The victor then quickly landed at the edge the crater that was formerly a hill, and she smiled a nasty smile as she pulled off her spiked WWI war helmet and mask, and shook out her blond locks of hair from underneath. "Sorry I was late."

Her minions then landed several yards behind her.

Thrymr and Halval.

For the true Daimakaicho, the true Leader of Hell, had now joined the battle.

She put back on her helmet and mask, then turned around to face her minions. "I want her body. Thrymr, dig it out."

The She-Hulk assented. With her enormous strength she tore quickly into the slag of the new crater until she reached the body laying underneath. Then she threw it over her shoulder like a small purse and brought it out and lay it before her master's feet.

The Daimakaicho kneeled and checked her. "My, she's not dead. I'm surprised. I guess she's as tough a bitch as her mother. That blast should have killed her."

She looked up and thought for a moment. "Hmm, she could be useful. The last daughter of Skuld would make a fine bargaining chip. And there is knowledge inside her pretty head that I very much want to extract. It would make our victory complete." Her hand caressed the bloody face.

Halval asked, "Mind leeches?"

"Exactly. I will arrange for some to be brought to the bivouac."

Halval rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "It is remarkable how you have calmed down, my lady."

"Oh?"

"Two days ago you were screaming how much you hated Skuld and her daughters. During all our planning meetings you were wild eyed, obsessed. I must say, I do appreciate this new calm change in your demeanor."

"Well, we're winning aren't we? I have what I want. Victory soothes the mind." She tilted her head, "Perhaps we should have a victory celebration when this is over? Yes, a celebration. A big one. Full debauchery authorized. Halval, I'm putting you in charge of it."

"Uh, yes madam." She bowed.

The Leader of Hell then picked up Thoriko's body. She paused. Then she spoke:

"I'm taking her myself so I can extract the information. I need it quickly." She looked at the face of her defeated victim again. "Mind leeches and torture, I'm sorry my dear, but this will be a very bad day for you. I don't have much time. Later perhaps after this is all over, I will torture you further for my pleasure." She looked up. "You two wait here for further instructions. Don't go anywhere."

Halval said, "But madam, this is war, we should be fighting the enemy, should we not?"

Thrymr grunted, "I wanna smash!"

The Daimakaicho smiled and said, "Not yet. I'm saving my two biggest guns for last. That is you two. I'll tell you when to attack and where, be ready. Stay here."

Halval bowed again, "Yes, madam." Thrymr merely grunted assent.

The Leader of Hell then ascended with her booty and left.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Thrymr started to whine like a petulant child, "I wanna fight! No fair!" She plopped to the ground and sulked. Haval jumped at the huge thump of that monstrous woman landing on the ground.

Halval grumbled, "I agree. Sitting here, as reserve weapons we should have remained in the tunnel. That's proper procedure. Just sitting out here on standby like this, outside in the open, we are exposed and vulnerable to counter-attack. Especially air attack."

"Fah! Nothing can harm us!"

"Perhaps."

She thought. "She said 'two biggest guns'. But that is wrong. We are not the biggest."

Thrymr looked up, "Whatcha mean? Of course we are!"

"No. I am talking about _that_."

Thrymr growled, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, I never wanna fight that thing. I ain't that stupid."

Halval stepped forward. Her solid black eyes narrowed. "Something is very wrong about all this..."

* * *

Thoriko slowly opened her eyes. She felt ethereal, floating. And she felt _good_. She could feel that she was being carried up, up, and away. Then she saw the face of the person carrying her.

And then Thoriko knew with absolute certainly that she had to be dead.

Had to be. Her dead sister was ferrying her to the afterlife. Afterlife?

_Wait, we're already in Heaven. There's no afterlife beyond here!_ Thoriko believed that death for a goddess was obliteration. There was no afterlife for her kind as far as she knew. What was going on? She tried to sit up.

Her ferry-master said, "Stop squirming or I'll drop you. I didn't know you were so heavy. My back is absolutely killing me..."

Thoriko flipped and hugged her sister in mid-air. "Lindy!"

"Oof.. Ouch."

"Lindy! Lindy! You're alive!"

"Please stop shouting in my ear.."

"But.. but.. how? Where is Hrungnir?"

"She's gone. I'll explain later."

"But how did you manage to.."

"I had to improvise. It was risky. The trick worked."

It was because Lindy and Hrungnir had roughly the same physical body type. The problem was Lindy's larger breasts, which she bound with tape. The pair already had the same length hair and same blond hair color, so no wig was required. And they had same hazel eye color that peered through the mask. And Lindy could easily disguise her voice.

There were two other problems with her deception. First, her face was rather different in structure: Hrungnir had an oval baby-face, while Lindy's face was more angular. But from a distance, and with her WWI helmet and mask on, the two were indistinguishable. Except for dissimilar height.

That was the second problem. Lindy was able, with some difficulty, to shorten her stature by the necessary 8 centimeters by contorting her spine in an 'S' curve. It was rather painful, but she only needed to do it for a little while, and only when someone was close enough to notice. When she picked up Thoriko's body in front of Halval and Thrymr she almost cried out and buckled under the pain. It was because she basically gave herself scoliosis of the spine, and picking up her sister had compressed that 'S' curve even further, and very painfully.

"Lindy, why are you leading this attack?"

"I couldn't stop it."

Lindy literally could not. Once Hrungnir issued the pre-arranged attack code it could only by cancelled with the proper abort code, and Lindy did not know it. Nor did she know any of the other command codes. Nor was she privy to the final Order Of Battle (OOB), the logistical plans, and so on. Even if she had the codes she didn't know the names of the divisions to issue them to.

Hrungnir had already sent the attack code when she did her kinetic dive. Those orders could not be countermanded. Lindy could not stop the attack. But maybe she could hinder it. But how? She thought furiously, then the idea hit her. Become Hrungnir.

She knew it was really risky. The deception almost failed right at the start.

During the battle preparations, Halval and Thrymr surprised her by entering before she could put her mask on. They caught a glimpse of her exposed face for a couple seconds. At first she feared the deception had failed. But it worked anyway.

Halval was fooled because she was blind.

Thrymr was fooled because, frankly, she was an idiot.

One of the Uruk-Hai guards was not fooled. He started to protest. He knew Lindy by sight and was more alert that most. Earlier she had tried to secretly co-opt him. He pretended to submit but he never gave her any useful intel. He saw through her disguise. But before he could say anything further, Lindy quickly vaporized the soldier and then swiftly made up an excuse about his being 'a spy for that bitch Lindy'. They bought it.

Her minions demanded final orders. She couldn't give them, not knowing the codes. So she simply strutted before them and said, "You already have your standing orders. Carry them out. Consider this a test. I want to see how well my minions can do on their own. At the right moment I'll swoop in and tell you what to do."

This was why the attack was so standard, so predictable. There was no creativity to the attack, no new deception. It was crude and blunt. It was because all of the attackers were following predetermined standard procedures, written decades ago, as a contingency if ever a general all-out offensive attack needed to be ordered on short notice.

Thoriko sighed, "Why do I feel soooo good..."

"Yes, I know you are feeling a bit euphoric. It is because I shot you with my beam, full strength."

Every first-class goddess has a unique special ability. Lindy's was the ability to transfer energy from herself into another god or goddess. It temporarily boosted the recipient's power-level enormously. She could transfer power by touch or by shooting a beam of raw energy at her target. A second-class entity receiving that much power could temporarily become first-class. This was how Keld was able to trap Thoriko in the force cage when Lindy touched his shoulder.

"I hit you with about half of myself. I need the other half, sorry. Right now your energy level is probably running around 150%. Be careful, it has a side effect of inducing a temporary high." Lindy knew that the beam stimulated the pleasure center of the brain, creating an instant feeling of ecstasy and joy. It could be very addicting. It was also a weapon, like a Niven tasp. Too many hits and the addicted victim could become her slave for life. Lindy wondered if there would ever be a time when she would resort to using that terrible weapon.

"Your shoulder wound is healed."

"Wow.. you're pretty.."

Lindy did an eyeroll. Then she pinched her sister's cheek hard. "Stop it!"

"Ow!"

"Snap out of it. We have a war to fight, remember?"

Thoriko shook her head back and forth. Then she slapped her own face several times. "I'm okay. Where are we going, anyway?"

"To the HQ. We have to meet with Mother and work out a plan."

"No wait! We need to find Chrono! She's dying!"

"Where?"

"She was doing CAP over Troubadour's little jeremiad. Not sure where that was. Possibly over that hill there." Thoriko pointed. "Don't see her.."

Lindy closed her eyes and concentrated. Another of her strengths was empathy, the ability to feel another person's pain. She continued to concentrate.

She felt it.

The pain was horrible. Lindy could not believe it. "There! Right there! Let's go!" They zoomed.

Chrono was passed out on her stomach. Lindy quickly turned her over. Her sister cautioned, "Careful, don't touch that gunk."

Lindy sniffed it. "It's the base." Lithium diisopropylamide. "The burn is going to progress up into her shoulder any minute. We need to amputate. She's unconscious, and we don't have time for anything else."

"I'll do it and cauterize. Anesthetize her first."

"Right."

Lindy kissed the girl's forehead. Energy from that kiss moved into her body. Her chest started to move more slowly. The pain was subsiding.

"She's ready. Do it."

Like an expert surgeon, Thoriko carefully sliced Chrono's left arm off just below the shoulder with a careful wind cut. Then she rapidly sealed the wound with an electric cauterizer - her finger.

"Doctor Thoriko, that was perfect. You carry her. My back is still pretty bent.."

The trio rose into the air. The sound of war still surrounded them.

Thoriko pointed to a high point on a hill that gave a good overview of the battle raging below. They flew swiftly and landed without incident. Lindy quickly kneeled and checked Chrono's vitals. "That was really close, but she's okay." She knew that Valkyries had fast regenerative capability. Her arm would eventually regenerate in a couple weeks. There would be a permanent ring scar just below her shoulder at the regeneration point. It was a badge of honor that Chrono would probably be proud of: her first scar. Valkyries often bragged about them. Lindy stood up again.

The sisters rapidly scanned the battlefield, Lindy was alarmed. "What is this? There's no coordination. None. Most of our side is simply running around."

Thoriko grunted, "Troubadour staged a _coup d'etat_ at exactly the wrong time. Nobody is following Skuld's orders."

Lindy scowled, "That timing is _not_ a coincidence. He's obviously been coordinating with Hrungnir. The attack code probably triggered his Bastille Day. He's a traitor."

Thoriko's eyes narrowed. "I think you are right. I'll kill him myself."

"Just wait. So what's the plan then?"

"The plan is this: We are going to win this war. And we are going to put down the revolution. And do both at the same time. Right now. All by ourselves."

"What?"

"With no other help whatsoever."

Lindy looked at her sister. "You're kidding. Just you and me? We are a good team, but nobody is _that_ good."

"Yes we are. You. Me. And another..."

The ground shook violently. It was followed by a terrific roar of wind. Clouds darkened overhead.

And then they heard it.

A roar. An utterly inhuman roar on a scale never heard.

Thoriko pointed. "Look, here she comes."

Her sister saw it. Still at a distance but closing rapidly. "That.. that.. that is impressive.."

Thoriko's eyes glittered. "Today is the day..."

Lindy continued to stare in awe at the approaching rider.

"... of the Angel of Wrath."


	16. The Rider's Approach

**Chapter 16: The Riders Approach**

_All along the watchtower_

_The princess' kept the view_

_Two riders were approaching_

_And the wind began to howl_

The daughters of the Daitenkaicho waited and watched from the hill. The Lady of Wrath and her companion were advancing towards them.

The sisters remained unaffected by the incipient gale. Each being one-quarter wind elemental themselves, a bubble of still air surrounded each of them. The wind currents obeyed their masters and flowed around them.

The early morning sun was rising in the east. As they waited, Lindy used her powers to change out of Hrungnir's overly elaborate red-and-gold renaissance knight costume and swap into a basic green and blue dress. The dress was similar in style and fit to the matronly dresses that Belldandy typically wore: simple, elegant, and unostentatious.

Thoriko nodded approval. She was thankful that Lindy was finally able to get out of that demon-of-hell getup. The lightning goddess shuddered to imagine the kind of bawdy stripperrific costume her sister must have worn while sitting on the ruby and skull throne of Niflheim.

Thoriko herself was resplendent in her red cape and mantel with decorative breastplate. She designed it herself so it resembled Thor's battle dress. The dramatic contrast between Lindy's long simple dress and Thoriko's Greco-Roman warrior outfit was rather striking.

Still..

"Lindy, that dress looks very nice, but this is war. You need to wear something more suitable."

Lindy thought for a second. "How's this?" She was now wearing a red and white kimono, again simple and elegant.

"No."

"Feel it."

Thoriko felt the cloth. It was very soft, fine, and smooth. Hidden underneath it was a flexible steel mesh. Lindy was the very namesake of the _Yamato Nadeshiko_ : silk hiding steel.

Thoriko grinned, then crossed her gauntleted arms with satisfaction.

They continued to watch the approach of the Great Rider.

* * *

Halval* was pacing back and forth near the empty crater. "Something isn't right about this. Hrungnir was acting oddly."

She looked over at the She-Hulk. "Thrymr, what do you think?"

Thrymr wasn't listening. She busy creating mud castles. The latest was about eight feet high.

Halval sighed and decided to let Ms. Arnold Schwarzenegger continue to play with her mud pies.

Halval frowned as she replayed the event in her mind. No, something wasn't right. Hrungnir was far too calm and rational. Maybe Hrungnir took a potion to calm herself? Or cast a spell on herself? Definitely something happened to make her settle down. She claimed it was the surety of their victory. Perhaps.

The Dark Lady continued to brood. She was an elegant gothic woman, all dressed in black. Four great capes surrounded her like the folded wings of a dark butterfly. The wings entirely hid her figure except for her black high-heeled boots.

Her hair was tied back with a barrette over a widow's peak, with her slick brunette locks extending down in long ribboned bundles almost to her ankles. Her arms were hidden deep in her black sleeves, her hands almost never seen.

An elegant woman, very gothic, very dark.

And very blind.

For that was her power: to cause blindness. She did not directly blind her victims, no. They could still see. The eyes of her victims still worked. The rods and cones of the retina could still function to receive incoming photons and register them to the optic nerve.

It was because she could create zones of True Darkness, where nothing could illuminate. She would bring out her hands - the only time she did - and use them to create darkness. Her magic blocked the photons, obliterated them. There was literally nothing left to see. Total darkness.

Halval's blind eyes were very special: They could see sound. Where most creatures had a retina, she had an elaborate organ that acted better than the sonar of a bat. She could chirp ultrasonic pulses from her throat that bounced off objects, permitting her to see quite well, and in three dimensions. No color, of course. But there were many creatures that were color-blind, including her beloved bats.

The resolution of her sonic vision varied by distance. Close up, at reading distance, she could use higher frequencies and discern features better than human eyesight. Her short range resolution was so acute that using aural interferometry she could actually 'read' the ink on the printed page based on the height of the ink spots, allowing her to read books while blind. At longer distances she had to reduce the frequency to avoid excessive backscatter. This allowed her to see the general shape and height of an object, but not well enough to discern fine detail.

She wondered about Hrungnir. During the past couple days her master never stood close enough to allow Halval to 'see' her face clearly, being always careful to kept her distance. Hmm. What was especially odd was the loving way she bent down to caress the bloody head of her prone victim, Thoriko. Hrungnir would never do that, would she? No, she would not. She would mock the unconscious body, then kick the head for good measure.

That caress.. Something about that caress was off. After she touched Thoriko's face, Hrungnir announced she was going to torture her victim. It was that combination of exaggerated tenderness followed by violence that was so strange. Hrungnir was acting just like.. just like..

Just like Hild.

All that theatricality, that showing of exaggerated compassion just before torture, that was exactly Hild's style. It was a style that Halval so admired: graceful silk hiding the stiletto. So elegant, so beautiful, so dark.

So like Hild. Or rather, so like another woman who aspired to out-do Hild.

"Thrymr, I think Hrungnir was actually Lindy in disguise."

That got Thrymr's attention. "Wha? Yah think?"

"Did you get a good look at her?"

"Uh, nope."

"That had to be Lindy. Ooh..! That was wonderful! Such deceit! Lindy must have defeated Hrungnir during their confrontation, then she took her place while claiming the defeat happened the other way around. That was so clever and tricky, just like Hild. What a marvellous woman. Oh, if only she was evil, I would have gladly followed her into battle anywhere. The wondrously wicked things we could have done together! She would have been the best Daimakaicho ever!"

"Ain't that the prophecy?"

That broke Halval's monologuing. "Oh.. yeah."

Halval came to a decision. "I'm flying to the bivouac to warn the others."

Then the She-Hulk asked the Dark Lady, "So what do I do?"

The ground was shaking a bit.

"Go see what that shaking is. Smash it. Then smash everything."

"Yay! Booyah!" Thrymr bounded away to cause destruction and mayhem.

_And then I will do some of my own. Especially if I spot those sisters. I shall be merciless to Thoriko. I will play with her like a catspaw._

And what of Lindy? Halval decided she would bow before Lindy in honor of her wonderful deceitfulness. Then she would offer Lindy a chance to come back to the dark side, to become the worthy successor of Hild. And if she refused? Pity.

_I really do admire that woman. I hope I have the chance to tell her that._

_Before I kill her._

* * *

The niece of Thor then leaned over to her sister, "Okay, Mother will be here in a minute. Would you mind please telling me why, uhm, you are not dead?"

Lindy sighed, "That's a good question. You are right, I should be dead."

She looked down. "I wasn't ready for Hrungnir's kamikaze attack. She completely surprised me. I had no time."

Lindy tried to fathom what was in Hrungnir's mind, but could not. It was beyond her ability to comprehend. Such brooding, implacable hate. It had only grown when she saw that Lindy was adroitly maneuvering for political advantage. It was so skillfully done that Hrungnir started to genuinely fear losing power.

When Lindy was first coronated on the throne, she had all the authority, but Hrungnir had all the power. That was fine with Hrungnir. This dichotomy is common in large organizations. For example, in the US Army the most authoritative rank is the general, but the most powerful rank is actually the sergeant. Ask any soldier and they will tell you: the sergeants run the military.

And so Lindy was the queen, but Hrungnir actually ran Niflheim. And that was fine. It gave her room to maneuver and plot.

But then things started slowly changing. Hrungnir could feel the loyalty of her most senior minions gradually slipping away. Dorlaz, Haval, then others. It was happening everywhere. She was losing the game. Lindy was winning.

Soon it was beyond Hrungnir's ability to tolerate: That the sire of her most hated enemy would be her actual _ruler_? Never! And then Lindy revealed her secret agenda, and it was truly horrifying to the red _Mokkurkalfi_ : Lindy would subvert Niflheim from within, destroy it, by offering what was essentially amnesty. She offered open access to go to Asgard, which was now mostly empty, 90% depopulated, in an offer made freely to every sentient creature in Niflheim that would agreed to live in peace.

This is was what drove Hrungnir over the edge. Peace? PEACE? Strength is peace! Power is peace! The power of the gauntlet, the fist. That is the only peace! To lay down arms? To become defenseless proles? That must _never_ be allowed to happen. Worst of all, it would mean that Lindy will have won. And, Hrungnir thought bitterly, the prophecy would be true, for Lindy would indeed become the greatest Daimakaicho in all history, not the greatest in causing evil, but rather the greatest in infamy: The one who destroyed Niflheim.

Worst of all, Hrungnir could now see that it was inevitable. Lindy would not be stopped. This is what 'greatest' meant. She could not be stopped. Because if she could be stopped she wouldn't be the greatest.

It was hopeless.

This foreordained knowledge had sent Hrungnir, who was already precariously mentally unstable, careening right over the edge of sanity. _I don't care about the prophecy! I'm going to kill her anyway! And burn everything, everything in Asgard!_ So she calmly issued General Order 3950271/s/a, and then, after confirming it with her battle masters, all of whom were still loyal to her, she grabbed her dimensional inverter bracelet and accelerated in a suicidal kinetic dive straight through the living rock to kill that bitch Lindy once and for all. The fact that Hrungnir would be ending her own life was of course of little consequence to her at this point. She would gain satisfaction. That bitch would finally be dead, and her obscene plan to destroy Niflheim would burn with her. All of Asgard would burn, ending any hope of peace.

As Thoriko listened to Lindy's story, she was a bit confused. "Why didn't you just wind-shift then reintegrate? It only takes a couple seconds."

She meant the ability that the sisters shared to convert themselves into the whirlwind. The atoms of their bodies would blow apart and swirl. A diving attacker would simply zoom harmlessly right through them. They could then reintegrate themselves and become whole again.

That they had this ability was a closely held secret.

Only the great wind elemental Mariah, the queen of storms, the living whirlwind, originally had this ability. No one else. Then one day long ago, Urd, Skuld, and Peorth had a silly contest to try to 'assist' Keiichi. They accidentally converted him into literally the wind. A whirlwind. Belldandy rushed in and used all her powers to try to bring him back, calling his name, all to no avail. His atoms were blown apart. Literally. Blown to the wind. She then called out his name again and he re-appeared**. Everyone who witnessed it thought it was incredible, that Belldandy wielded that kind of power, such fine-tuned control, down to the atomic level.

She didn't. Keiichi had reconstituted _himself_.

How? It was a mystery. Then one day a recent photograph of his mother, Takano, revealed the truth: She looked exactly the same as the day Keiichi was born. She was young, beautiful, ageless.

It was obvious: Keiichi's mother was not human.

It was Keiichi's first wife that first learned the secret. Way out west they called the wind Mariah. For that was Takano's real name, Mariah, the greatest wind elemental on Earth. She asked Chihiro to look after Keiichi. She even secretly financed Chihiro's business, which Chihiro named Whirlwind in gratitude to her benefactor.

Now, disintegration spells were common. It was that latter ability, reintegration, that was truly the miracle. It was considered impossible: Once Humpty-Dumpty was destroyed there was no way to put him back together again. To reassemble all of the 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms of the human body, all in the correct order and positions, with the correct electron shells, angles, atomic spin, and van der Waals forces? Quantum Mechanics firmly stated that this was flatly impossible. Absurd.

That was why Lindy's so-called 'executions' were so horrifyingly effective. Everyone knew that ablation spells were nasty. They were a gruesome form of execution, to scour away a victim's flesh until nothing remained. It was considered a fate worse than being burned alive.

And then to reconstitute someone after they have been literally taken apart, been disintegrated right down to the atomic level? Ridiculous.

Lindy sighed. "I didn't have those two seconds to wind-shift. I was surprised. Hrungnir came shooting right through the rock wall at some unimaginable speed, heading right for me. She was probably using some kind device that allowed her to move effortlessly through solid matter."

She looked up. "It was Dorlaz. He sensed her coming somehow. He stepped in to interpose his body between Hrungnir and myself. He took the impact. It killed him."

"He was first class?"

"Yes. Dorlaz and Hrungnir were the only first class demons in Niflheim. I didn't promote anybody but Dorlaz. Too dangerous."

"Then that means that Hrungnir is surely dead. They annihilated each other. Kinetic impact. The only sure-fire way to kill another of the same class. Kamikaze."

"Yes.." Lindy was getting teary. "Dorlaz did it for me. He sacrificed himself, for me."

Thoriko touched her cheek. "And for Niflheim too. He was very brave."

"Yes, he was."

Thoriko crossed her arms again and watched the rider approaching. "Still, this is good. It means the demons are leaderless. They are only following standard orders. That's why all the attacks have been so predictable. Nothing innovative. Nothing new. We have the advantage. We have the initiative."

"Yes. It means we might have a chance."

The roar was getting louder, closer. It was picking up debris, surrounding them in a cloud of black, with bolts of lightning crackling through it.

"More than a chance now, I think.."

The Great Rider was getting close.

Lindy yelled above the roaring din, "Is it safe for us here? Should we move?"

"Uhm.."

Then they both saw it.

"Wind-shift! Do it! Now!"

That act probably saved their lives.

* * *

**A/N:**

* Halval appears in the _Oh! My Goddess!_ mangas in chapters 252-256. Thrymr appears in chapters 257-261.

** AMG Season 2, Episode 8.

The lyrics at the top of this chapter are from _All Along the Watchtower_ by Bob Dylan, which was later popularized by Jimi Hendrix. The sources are Isaiah 21 and Revelations 6. See the YouTube video [Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower - Vh1 Hits ORIGINAL VIDEO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbOZo3TkVNc&t=2m52s) (3:56) by compassrose1975, starting at 2:52.


	17. The Open Secret

**Chapter 17: The Open Secret**

_One hour earlier_

The Daitenkaicho prepared to go to war.

Skuld marched towards the Deep Archives, with several of her personal attendants stumbling over themselves trying gamely to keep up as best they could.

Her face was stern and terrible to behold, and few could bear under her gaze for even a second. Her piercing yellow eyes were the very eyes of the Angel of Death: blazing, bright, fully aflame, the bright yellow eyes of the _ōkam_ _i_ at full power. No one could bear to look at those eyes.

No one who wanted to live.

Skuld approached a nondescript grassy field and ordered her retinue to halt. The field was empty. Some of her attendants were confused. Why come to this place? There is nothing here.

Nothing, that is, except the secret location of the Deep Archives.

* * *

_80 years ago_

Ragnarök. The last battle. The Götterdämmerung. The death of all the great gods. The end of the Fourth Age.

Skuld was running blindly, trying to find him. Where was he? Had had to be told! He had to be warned! And quickly!

She ran up the golden staircase of the great palace of Valhalla. In the chaos the door guards missed the small girl. She slipped inside. She had only seen the Great Hall a few times in her 700 years. She ran past the Great Throne. She knew it was only ceremonial. The real offices were in the back sector. Down corridors, left, down, right, down again.

She found it. It was a rather nondescript office deep in the bowels of the rear of the palace. It was a modest office more suitable for a harried bureaucrat than the Leader of the Gods.

Tyr's office. It was empty.

_No, I have to warn him! Where is he? Think, Skuld, think! If there was a major attack coming, bigger than a nuclear attack, where would you go to prepare?_

_I would go underground, deep underground._

She looked for a way down.

She found it: A hidden elevator. The shaft plunged at least 2 kilometers. It opened into a damp and dimly lit hall. She ran down it as fast as her little legs could carry her. Another elevator. Down again. Down to the Deep Levels, far, far below the palace.

These sections of the palace couldn't have been used in centuries. It was maze of dark, dingy, dirty passages, all seemingly alike. Too many passages and rooms. She would never mind him this way.

So Skuld pulled out her infrared goggles from null space and put them on. Then she pulled out her _Star Trek_ tricorder and started scanning. It was the one she built for her mother during their stealth infiltration op against Niflheim four months prior. She got the idea from the TV show.

Hmm. She found a heat signature in a certain direction. Then energy readings. Then, yes, ah, life signs now. Aha! Found them! She threw open the door.

And ten of the most powerful beings in Asgard slowly raised their heads from the planning table and looked at the young girl in utter astonishment.

Thor roared, "Who let this girl in here!?"

Sif gently scolded her like a matronly schoolmarm. "My dear, this is no place for children."

Bragi asked, "Who is that?"

Odin snored.

Freyr yelled, "Out!"

Njoror rolled his eyes. "Our security is worthless.."

Peorth exclaimed, " _Mais bien sûr mon ami!_ But of course! Skuld, you should be here too!"

Anzus and Frigg remained silent.

Tyr smiled. "Come in, child."

Skuld was frozen in place with her geeky IR goggles and scanning gear in her hand. She hadn't thought this far ahead.

She dropped all her gear on the floor with a crash and started to back away.

Tyr held his hand out, "Please, come here my daughter. It must be important, or you would not have gone to all this trouble to find us."

And so, with Tyr's gentle coaxing, Skuld urged, nay begged, that the Deep Archives be quickly moved to a new hidden location before the main attack, lest they be uncovered and destroyed.

There were some shouts around the planning table. Many of the other gods and goddesses objected. The Deep Archives were hidden. Nobody knew their location. Moving them would expose their contents to possible enemy attack. The archives should remain buried. That way they would remain safe until the battle was over.

The young girl pleaded that they be moved. Why? Because, she admitted, she had discovered them herself and broke into them on a lark a few years back. More objections. This girl had just confessed to committing a major crime. She must be punished. Tyr raised his hand to silence them. He continued to listen to Skuld.

The girl pleaded, explaining that the hiding place was horribly designed. Sif nodded, "Indeed. If even a young girl like her could find it.."

That offended Njoror greatly, for he was the one who had designed it. "Bah! Throw her out!"

More yelling. But Tyr saw wisdom in the girl's eyes. And so, right then and there, he authorized Skuld to lead an emergency engineering team to quickly move the Deep Archives to a new hidden location.

After the young girl bowed and left, Tyr revealed a secret to the table. Thor glared at Tyr, "Are you bloody serious? Her!?" He kicked Odin's chair. "Father, stop snoring! Tyr is going to replace you with a little girl! It is an outrage!"

Odin mumbled and went back to sleep.

* * *

Skuld was finished. She did all the work by herself with only Banpei and Sigel. She wanted no living witnesses.

This was the location. The new Deep Archives, located in a nondescript grassy field.

There were no traps here. No traps created by a devious and crazy bomb-throwing engineering genius. Nothing.

Oh there was another location with _plenty_ of traps. The False Archives. She rubbed her hands with glee as she imagined how the enemy will lose legions of sappers and diggers trying to break, burrow, tunnel, and bomb their way in. Auto-teleporters into solid rock, reactive armor, wonderful, devious traps.

Skuld spent 90% of her time on the False Archives to make it an utter death trap. It was as nasty as her young twisted mind could imagine. And at the center of it? After surviving all those ingenious traps? The final prize, the final reward: buried deep in the central Vault, protected by the final boss (two bosses actually, surprise!).

The final reward: A jack-in-the-box. _Pop goes the weasel!_ Ka-boom!

It was childish. But then she _was_ a child.

She spent only 10% of her time designing the real Deep Archives.

When it was finished she brought Tyr to see it, and no one else.

There was no door to the new Deep Archives. There was no way inside.

Tyr ordered her to design it that way, so that only he could gain access, using unique powers that only he had. She showed him how he could gain access.

She remembered that he smiled at her fine handiwork. He benevolently touched the young engineer's head, then he had kneeled down so he was at eye level and spoke to her. "And you left a back door for yourself, did you not?"

She looked startled. "Huh? No sir! Honestly!"

Tyr stood up again. "Not consciously, perhaps. But you did."

"No, with respect, I did not. There's no secret magic word, or button to push, or anything like that. Really."

"You did. You just don't realize it yet."

Skuld was confused, "I don't understand."

Tyr walked away to prepare for battle. He turned and smiled, "One day you will."

* * *

_One hour ago_

This was the place. There was no door. There was no way inside.

To open the Deep Archives required incredible power. Only Tyr could open it.

And so could a first-class water bender.

She raised her hands in supplication before the green grassy field. She could _feel_ the moisture in the ground, moisture that surrounded a sphere of Adamite located 300 meters below, hidden by a thin layer of granite to block scans from overhead, and suspended on a rubberized frame to hide it from any attempt at seismic tomography. Hitting the ground with explosive charges and then measuring the echos with seismic microphones - a common technique used by oil wildcatters and so-called 'frackers' - would not reveal _this_ location.

She concentrated. She lifted. She grimaced. There was a rumble. The ground shook. The field began to deform upward. There was a bulge forming, larger, then larger, then larger still. A metallic hemisphere emerged from the disturbed ground.

{ Keiichi: I am officially impressed. }

{ Skuld: Wait, watch this. It's the best part. }

She approached the lock that protected this most precious secrets of the gods and goddesses.

{ Skuld: See that lock? }

{ Keiichi: Yeah. Hey, that looks like the cheap flimsy lock on the bathroom back at the old temple. }

{ Skuld: Same lock. }

{ Keiichi: You have got to be are kidding me. That lock was worthless! It seemed like every goddess on the planet was barging into my private bath time, like, every other week! You can open that lock with your fingernail! }

Skuld then proceeded to open the lock with her fingernail. She opened the hatch and motioned her attendants to go inside and fetch the items she requested.

{ Keiichi: Argh! You are twisted! }

{ Skuld: Thank you. }

* * *

It would be several minutes before her servants would be able to retrieve the items that Skuld requested.

Meanwhile she waited.

Then she wondered if she should pray.

Now, Skuld had never prayed to God, the El Shaddai ( שַׁדַּי ), at least not directly. She believed her position in the _scala naturea,_ though higher than any other being in Asgard, was far, far too low to do anything like that. It would be presumptuous. It would be like a US Army sergeant trying to phone up General Eisenhower for advice.

But humans were different. They seemed somehow to have a direct channel, a direct line to the Top. As far as she knew it was unique to those creatures. It seemed so preposterous, yet there it was. She envied them. Keiichi tried to explain it once, but she confessed it made no sense to her.

And yet even with that wonderful gift, some humans were skeptics. They were called atheists. These people claimed that God didn't exist, that the universe was blind and random, with no designer, no creator at all.

Skuld scoffed. How foolish for them to deny what was right in front of their eyes. Now, she didn't mean the supernatural beings like herself who could occasionally be seen fluttering around Earth, granting wishes and such, no. It was obvious because the whole of creation was everywhere, surrounding them, around them, so wonderful, so beautiful, so amazing, right in front of their eyes. It was all right there before them, from the iridescent scales of the monarch butterfly's wing under a microscope to the belly flop of a great whale off the port bow. It was all there.

It was obvious in the heavens too. Humans were so lucky. Their world could literally see the Universe.

Asgard could not. Skuld looked up at the sky. The stars were gone, taken away in their imprisonment.

She knew that Asgard was actually a thin flat elliptical disc, about 500,000 kilometers along the major axis and 70,000 kilometers along the minor one. It slowly spun on the major axis, creating the appearance of night and day as it rotated and orbited near a sun with no name. The rotation was colinear so there was no change of seasons.

The edges of the disc gently bent away to create a slight curve like an upside-down dinner plate. The curvature was especially pronounced at the ends of the long axis where the inclination was the greatest. This geometry created the two polar regions of Asgard: The arctic lands of the mighty Frost Giants, the only denizens who could survive in those bitterly cold and desolate regions of perpetual ice and twilight.

The disc was on average about 80km thick. And embedded in the center that disc was the great tree named Yggdrasil. The artificial portion of that tree, the Yggradrasil Mark II supercomputer, was only a small component of what was actually a great world-spanning life form. Ragnarök had destroyed much of the upper part of the tree, but the roots had survived the war intact and so the tree quickly regrew. And Yggdrasil's roots were dug deep into disc, its roots extending everywhere, spreading far and wide, deeper and deeper, until they actually punctured the underside.

The roots of the Great Tree drew and concentrated energy, the life force that fed their world. And those roots were _hot_. On the underside they burned with tremendous heat, a living blue fire. Those roots were so hot that the surface of the underside of the disc was basically nothing but molten lava.

Nothing could live on the underside of the disc. This was why the realm of Niflheim was deep underground. Niflheim was the underground realm that existed on the flip side of the Asgardian disc. The roots of Yggdrasil fanned out and formed a plane in the middle of that disc at around 40km depth that created the bipolar gravity gradient. It also formed an impassable barrier that forever separated the two realms.

Several decades back Skuld built for herself a telescope on a whim, a powerful one, to scan the stars around Asgard. She was disappointed. Parallax indicated that no stars could be seen out past around 80 light years or so. It seemed that only a paltry 10,000 or so stars existed in their pocket universe. That's it. Basically there were enough stars to make the night sky look pretty.

It was possible, she supposed, that Asgard's sun was located in a globular cluster that happened to be embedded in a dust cloud. But no, there was no IR radiation, there was no tell-tale 3 degree kelvin cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR), the radiation that was evidence of a Big Bang in the human universe. There was no Big Bang here.

Nothing was beyond 80 light years. Nothing.

Meanwhile she knew that the human Universe extended for billions and billions of light years.

It was as if the Asgardians were living in a little fish bowl, while the humans were living in a huge ocean.

And what an ocean it was!

Skuld wished she could go re-visit Earth with her super telescope, because she longed to see what the humans saw: an observable universe that was dozens of billions of light-years in diameter and expanding, created over 13 billion years ago.

She had heard about the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF) image, and it simply amazed her, that the humans could actually _see_ the entire Universe, all of it that was within the range of the speed of light. The entirity of God's amazing creation was all right there, right in front of them! They could actually see it! Right in front of their eyes!

It was incredible.

It was also impossible.

Physically impossible.

It shouldn't be visible. It should be a fog or completely black, nothing in between. To see that amount of detail, that amount of fine structure, those beautiful delicate rotating pinwheels, to see galaxies billions of light years away across almost an entire universe was absurd. Nothing should be visible, not at those unimaginable distances. It was more mathematically improbable than hitting the Power Ball Jackpot lottery five times in a row.

Unless it was designed that way by someone, or something, who was showing off.

Who wanted humans to see it.

The improbability of it all has to do with something called the alpha opacity function, a concept familiar to video game designers. In a 3-D video game, every object or texel is assigned an RGBA value: red, green, blue, alpha. The alpha value determines the the opacity of that the object or texel at that point. This determines its transparency: 0.0 is fully transparent, and 1.0 is fully opaque (typically it is scaled on integral values from 0 to 255). Video games are of course discrete, not continuous, simulations and therefore the RGBA values either quickly saturate (go to 1.0) or remain at 0.0, nothing in-between.

Achieving partial transparency that doesn't enfog the player is very tricky to design, and many video game designers simply cheat and create a fake fog that kicks in at a fixed distance.

Creating a 3-D simulation over unimaginable distances while still revealing interesting objects at those distances is _hard_. It has to do with something called the matter density gradient. It has to be absolutely perfect to be able to see anything at all at cosmological distances.

Even the lovely pinwheel of a single galaxy is improbable. It shouldn't exist. Computational physicists tried for decades to create a supercomputer simulation that would create a long-term pinwheel structure of a typical spiral galaxy. They couldn't (without cheating). It was impossible.

Spiral galaxies were impossible. Then dark matter was discovered. Why does dark matter exist? There's no reason for it. There's nothing in the Standard Model that requires it. It's just _there_. Why? Well, it made the galaxies quite pretty to look at.

Skuld admired all those pinwheel galaxies. So beautiful. Then her keen engineering senses twigged. She could sense the aesthetics of their design. Hmm.

And then the human cosmologists discovered that all galaxies in the human universe appeared to be flying away from each other at a continuously accelerating rate. They discovered a mysterious entity called dark energy, which makes up more than 74% of the universe. What the heck is _that_? It was named 'dark' because, like dark matter, it was utterly mysterious. Again there is no reason for it to exist. No physical model can explain it. Again it's just there.

Dark energy will cause something called the Big Rip. The end of the universe will be totally cool to watch. It will be visible. You will literally see the galaxies dissolving one by one (remember we can _see_ them), then the stars dissolving, then the planets, including the Earth itself. Then you.

Skuld wished she could zoom in a near lightspeed spacecraft forward in time, about 16 billion years or more from now, and sit in Douglas Adams' _Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ , and watch it all go foom. For the Universe will end spectacularly. Not the cold desolate heat-death of thermodynamics and utter darkness as the last star burns out. It will be a beautiful ending, a cool ending. One that we can actually _watch_.

Skuld could sense it. The aesthetics. It was all there. It was obvious.

Skuld the Engineer bowed deeply before the Master Engineer.

And so Skuld knew the secret that was not a secret, for it was out in the open for anyone to see.

God exists.

And He has style.

* * *

Skuld waited.

Her retinue brought out what was required from the Deep Archives. Objects of war. Weapons of terrible power.

She stripped her clothing down to a thin undershirt. Then she raised her arms up and braced. It was the same pose that Yul Brenner made in Cecil B. DeMille's great film, _The Ten Commandments_ , as the Pharaoh's servants armored him before he chased down the escaping Hebrews in his speeding chariot intending to smite them all.

Braced. Arms extended. "Prepare me!"

And so her retinue of mikos did.

They armored the goddess for war.

First, they put on her The Destroyer, the great armor forged by Odin himself to fight the Celestials long ago. It was forged of an unknown metal, more durable than Adamite. It imbued its wearer with unsurpassable strength, unlimited stamina, and invulnerability. It could project intense beams of energy to destroy anything in its path. And it allowed its wearer to grow to a tremendous height.

But there was as a danger and a reason why the armor of The Destroyer was carefully kept hidden: Any person who inhabited that armor would quickly grow more progressively violent and uncontrolled. Eventually the armor would dominate that person and overpower them, creating a mad berserker who could in theory destroy worlds.

That almost happened to Loki when he attempted to wear the armor and use it against his brother Thor, who barely survived the encounter. It was then thought lost and buried, but it was later uncovered and retrieved by Sif, in a desperate and misguided attempt to fight another enemy. Eventually the armor was permanently hidden in the Deep Archives because it was deemed far too dangerous to use, except in uttermost need.

A miko put on Skuld the helmet of Vendel, the great helm of the warrior kings. It gave its wearer wisdom and knowledge in war, so that whosoever wore it could devise strategies and tactics in battle that could rout any enemy on the field, no matter how out-numbered or unbalanced the forces at hand.

Another miko handed her the Gjallerhorn, the great horn of summoning, that could call any creature to her.

Then another miko knelt and presented the Daitenkaicho with Gungnir, the great spear of Odin, fashioned in deep and dark places by the dwarf Dvalin during the First Age, its wood made from the tree of Yggdrasil itself. And the engravings on that spear were the source of Odin's power. No one could wield that spear but him.

Skuld was taking a chance. Odin was gone. Would Gungnir accept her as its new master? She bent and picked it up from the holder with great reverence and respect. Would it accept her?

It did. She was able to grasp it successfully. She raised it high and mighty over her head.

Finally, the last item. A miko brought forth a pillow that held _Der Ring des Nibelungen_ , the Great Ring of Power, forged by the dark dwarf Alberich in secret in the First Age. It was the ring that was the origin of the Tolkien myth **—** the ring that, after much strife, war, and the death of many gods, was eventually returned to the great Rhinemaidens in the Second Age. Later, when the maidens departed from the world, the ring was hidden and kept safe, never to be used again.

Until now.

She put on the ring and raised her mighty first skyward. The Ring of Doom glowed with power.

Then she blew the Gjallerhorn, a great blast, deep and rasping, that sounded like an inhuman roar on a scale never heard.

A summons.

She waited.

Then she saw it approaching. She smiled.

It was Sleipnir, the great eight-legged horse of the gods, a horse that inspired fear and terror wherever it went. For it was a gray horse, a pale horse, a horse whose very presence was considered a terrible omen to anyone who saw it approaching.

The great stallion gently approached Skuld and lowered its great mane before her, which she stroked lovingly. Sleipnir nuzzled her face. They were fast friends, even though they had not seen each other since Ragnarök, when Tyr last rode it, galloping into battle and the doom of all the gods, to fight alongside Thor, Bragi, Frer, Sif, Peorth, Anzus, Frigg, and all the other great gods. All of whom were now gone.

Skuld remembered that great battle, how she wanted so badly to join the fight. But Tyr forbade her. She protested. She explained that she had just single-handedly defeated Fenrir, so she could help. She was refused. Then she tried to surreptitiously follow anyway but was sent back. She tried again. Eventually Anzus placed a spell on her daughter to put her to sleep, then kissed the girl on her forehead, before her mother and father departed from this world, never to return.

The next day it was Sleipnir who awoke Skuld from her dreamless slumber by licking her face. She awoke with a start. Her body had changed and she looked like a girl who was perhaps 17, a teenager on the cusp of adulthood. Desolation was everywhere. And she could hear the soft anguished cries of the injured and dying. So she leapt on Sleipnir's back, who was pulling a sleigh, and she gathered and loaded as many of the injured on that sleigh as fast as she could.

Some of the wounds of the injured were very grave: missing limbs, half-eaten torsos, horrible acid burns. She took them all to the makeshift infirmary. Doctor Nie had also survived. And then, by some miracle, in part thanks to Skuld's quick actions and with the support of Belldandy's spirit, Doctor Nie was able to save them all in time.

And so a close friendship grew between Skuld and the eight-legged gray horse. But except for that one day she had never ridden him again. She knew that the Angel of Death riding the pale horse was simply too dangerous. Too portentous. She had rode him as a teenage girl that one day, that one day only, as the exception. She had no real powers then, and it was a day to save lives, not take them.

The Goddess of the Last Battle mounted Sleipnir, who whinnied and reared mightily. It had waited a long time for this moment. For now its purpose would be fulfilled.

The Angel of Death was now riding the Pale Horse of Death, for the first and only time. To ride that horse, to then grow monstrous, huge, looming over the field, meant only one thing. And every living being who saw that terrible visage on that day knew it what it meant:

Death to everything. The end of the mansion. The end of the world.

And so the Rider galloped to the field of battle, to end the world as she was instructed.

But there was someone who had other plans.

* * *

**A/N:**

**So what is it all about, anyway?** Ok, here is the whole enchilada, the entire philosophical edifice that I lay out in detail in my heavy-duty hard-core techno-philosophical fanfic, _The Final Act of Haruki Suzumiya_ (still in progress).

This is the short version.

1\. The exciting advances in physics and cosmology during the past two decades strongly indicate that the Universe is not random. It seems to be designed, and very carefully so. Big hint: The Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The UDF is impossible without a super-finely tuned matter density gradient and alpha opacity function that is absolutely perfect. The UDF does _not_ require the Anthropic Principle. (AP is the last, desperate, refuge of the cornered atheist.) The UDF is basically God showing off. I think He likes to do that a lot.

2\. Our universe has basic minimal rules and structure (a closed simulation, like a video game.) Ask a physicist how elegant and minimalist it all is. Gravity is the ugly duckling of the four forces, seemingly a standalone force, with weird behavior at cosmological distances. I believe that was needed to make it all work. (Dark matter is a design hack.) Meanwhile, dark energy gives us the Big Rip, which is a totally cool way to end the story. It will be visible. You will literally see the galaxies dissolving one by one, then the stars, then the planets, then the Earth itself. Again this is God showing off. (See a pattern?)

3\. Item 2 implies that a higher level of reality exists somewhere (running the video game). Call this Heaven, or whatever.

4\. Item 3 implies there is no way for you to reach Heaven on your own. It would be like a video game character trying to step out of the screen. (Secular Humanists and Gene Roddenberry think this way.)

5\. Item 4 implies you must be pulled up. No way to get there on your own. Instead, God shoved His own hand inside the screen, over 2000 years ago, to grab us and pull us up. Why? Dunno. Grace. (Aside: The difference between Christianity and Buddhism is that I think God wants friends to chat with. The Buddhist wants to merge with the Godhead and lose self-identity.)

6\. I strongly suspect there is a chain of these higher realities, possibly transfinite. God lives up at the top, the apex of this infinite ladder. (The Continuum Hypothesis is true.) Why? Because the math is elegant, and it is the only way for Georg Cantor to defeat Kurt Gödel. But it requires CH for it to work. The atheist denies CH. That is an unsupported and unprovable assumption. (It is really fascinating how the atheist/deist divide strongly correlates to each mathematician's position on CH. See the Wikipedia article.)

7\. God is definitely watching you. Why? The video game analogy. But there is an even better way to prove it: Observation is the key to Quantum Mechanics. We are living inside a closed QM system with a collapsible wave function. So who collapsed it? Answer: Whoever observed us from outside the box. So, like Schrödinger's cat, we are alive and not dead. We are literally alive because of Him. (That's a pun.) Yeah, I'm oversimplifying a bit. Observation is the key to everything. I say 'I think, therefore I am,' and since I am aware of myself right at this moment, therefore somebody must be observing me doing it. QED.

8\. God wants a relationship with you. Why? Because you are hardwired for it. You feel it. You are an instinctive seeker. No other animal thinks this way.

That's basically it.

You can work out the rest for yourself. God gave you eyes and a brain. It's all obvious. You can work out all the deep philosophical questions of life from the above: the question of free will, the two-way communication backchannel called prayer, the problem of evil, how salvation really works, pretty much everything.

You need to get at least items 1-5 under your belt first. Otherwise you will never get anywhere, and you are toast.

And then _after_ you got all that nailed down, go ahead and pick up an NIV Bible and start with the Gospel of John. He really gets it, the gestalt, the head space, the intuition, the heart, better than anybody. Love is the key. Our minds cannot grasp the infinite so He had to downsize it to something finite that we could understand. Basically, Christ is a hack to make it all work, the same way that dark matter is a hack. (I use the word 'hack' in the following sense: Not an error or a mistake, but a necessary special modification to make it all work. For example, the kludgy van der Waals force is a hack to make proteins fold right and ice float in water, so that Earth's oceans and ocean-under-ice-worlds like Europa can support life. I'll explain that later sometime.)

And there it is.

-HuuskerDu

 **How to start** : To start your seeker journey at step 1, go see the following YouTube video, **the most important video ever created by mankind:** [The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVjF_7ensg) by Deep Astronomy. Watch this video carefully. Or just look out your window.

 **The end of the story** is called the Big Rip. It will be totally cool to watch. See [New Estimates May Adjust Universe's Date for "Big Rip" Fate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdE7gUWddpU) by slatester, and [Dark Energy Are We Alone?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNnXqGRQxow) by ScienceChannel.

It's all pretty simple, really.

-HuuskerDu


	18. The Contest of the Wills

**Chapter 18: The Contest of the Wills**

The Angel of Wrath rode into battle.

{ Keiichi: I know I told you to get angry, but this is overkill. Stop, we need to talk. }

The rider continued.

{ Keiichi. Fine then. I'm vetoing your ride. Stop riding now. Official veto. }

The rider continued.

{ Keiichi: .. what the? }

{ Skuld: Sorry, my love. You can't. With all these artifacts I'm wearing I am too powerful for you to interfere. }

{ Keiichi: What? This is an official veto. Stop NOW! }

The rider continued.

{ Keiichi: GGguuunnngghh! }

{ Skuld: Stop hurting yourself. These artifacts that I'm wearing on my body are too strong for you. It's why I'm wearing them. }

{ Keiichi: But.. why? }

{ Skuld: You read the Blue File. Our mansion is finished. I just didn't know at the time... }

{ Keiichi: Skuld? }

{ Skuld: ...that the entity that will end our mansion, the entity that actually pushes the Big Red Button will be... }

{ Keiichi: Skuld? }

{ Skuld: ...me. I'm sorry, Keiichi. I received the order about one hour ago. }

{ Keiichi: Skuld!? }

{ Skuld: When an order like this comes down I'm compelled to obey it. I'm so sorry. }

{ Keiichi: SKULD! }

The rider rode on.

{ Keiichi: I'm going to fight you on this. }

The Angel of Death, riding on the Pale Horse, now had tears in its eyes.

{ Skuld: I know.. I know.. Would if help if I said I love you? }

Keiichi remained silent. Then he spoke something in her mind that chilled her.

{ Keiichi: Do what you have to do. }

{ Skuld: I'm sorry. }

{ Keiichi: Just do what you have to. }

{ Skuld: I'm so sorry. With all these artifacts on my body I'm invincible. You can't stop me. }

{ Keiichi: And I will do what _I_ have to do. }

Before Skuld could blink, Keiichi grabbed control of her body.

The rider stopped.

{ Keiichi: With all these artifacts on _my_ body _I'm_ invincible. I'm sorry. Veto stands. }

Skuld was stunned. What just happened?

She tried to lift her arm. Nothing. She tried to speak out loud.

{ Skuld: Hello? }

Sub-vocal. He was in control. Somehow he grabbed control away from her by surprise. It happened before she could even blink an eye. He was that fast.

"I'm sorry. We can't just go kill everybody. I don't care what kind of orders you received or how authoritative the orders might appear to be. My veto stands."

How could he do that? If Skuld had given him permission to take control of her body, sure, it was effortless. During the past eighty years they had swapped control of her body over ten thousand times. Early on it was for fun, a game, trying to fool Chrono and the others, to see how long it would take them to figure out that it was Keiichi talking and not her. The game amused them both.

And each time they swapped, their minds meshed a little more. Their minds came just a little more closer together.

Keiichi now knew her as intimately as any person possibly could while still maintaining a separate identity.

The fact was that Keiichi now knew Skuld better than she did herself. He could mentally touch the nodal junctions in her mind that represented her memory, her knowledge, and her personality. By touching those nodes he could actually simulate what she might think about something, before she did.

He could anticipate her actions.

He knew that Skuld would be so focused on her mission of doom that she would not be thinking of anything else. She was still unaware that he could grab control of her body without permission. So her guard was down. And it was a mental action inside her own head, so the armor of The Destroyer could not protect her. The Ring of Power could have stopped him, but she didn't think to use it that way. The other artifacts were irrelevant.

So he simply grabbed control.

{ Skuld: How long have you been able to steal control from me? }

"About ten years ago, I think. I've only done it a few times without your permission, always in your sleep."

Skuld thought back. { Oh! The sleepwalking! }

"Yeah, you remember that? We were both asleep, then I woke up with insomnia. I wanted a glass a milk. I didn't want to wake you so I got out of bed and drank the milk. Then it hit me: I just took control your body without asking! It wasn't intentional, honest. It happened before I realized it. But then I thought, wow, what did I just do? I had to think about what just happened. So I padded over to the balcony to watch the stars for a bit to think about it. Then you unexpectedly woke up. I pretended to wake up at the same time. I said you must have been sleepwalking. That was a close call. I was so embarrassed that I didn't say anything."

{ Skuld: Huuunnnghh. }

{ Keiichi: Give it up. With all these artifacts on me? With me ready and prepared for it? You don't stand a chance, sorry. }

Keiichi tugged on the reins to the left. "C'mon horsey, turn around."

Sleipnir didn't move.

"Hey! Giddyap! Turn!"

He yanked the reins hard left. Sleipnir reared up, nearly dismounting him. Then the great stallion pulled its head to the right and ripped the reins right out of his hands.

{ Skuld: Sleipnir, forward. }

The horse moved forward again.

Keiichi kicked the flanks, "You dumb animal, stop!"

The rider moved forward.

{ Skuld: That was a really good try. You did your best. }

He started slapping the horse. "Whoa! Stop horsey! Stop!"

{ Skuld: Sigh. I really, really hate to do this to you, my love. But when I get orders like these I am compelled to follow them to the best of my ability. I have to break my promise to you. To always be with you. }

"Skuld, wait, let's talk."

{ Skuld: But at least I'll keep a second promise to you this way. And maybe, just maybe, one day a long time from now, you might even thank me. }

"C'mon, just hold it a sec."

{ Skuld: Just remember that I loved you. }

Loved? Past tense?

She started to chant a ritual.

"Wait!"

{ The Wheels of Time, hear me! I am the Norn of the Past, the Present, and the Future, for I am alone. I control them all, for I am one: I am the Past, I am the Present, I am the Future. I am the Norn, the only one. You are all under my authority, and mine alone. I see the wheels of time turning. I see them them all. All that was. All that is. And all that will be. Hear me! Under my authority as the Norn of Time, I command you! Send him back! Now! }

* * *

_82 years ago_

Keiichi awoke. "Gah! Skuld stop! Veto! Official veto!"

He sat up on his futon completely startled.

He could hear someone sliding open the door partition. "Hey, you okay in there?"

He spun around and saw a tall platinum blond with dark skin and a plunging cleavage looking at him through the partition with some concern.

"Urd?"

He was sitting up in his old bedroom in the Tariki Hongan temple. It was morning and sun was streaming in between the bamboo slats. He could hear the birds outside singing their songs to each other.

He tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head. _What a wild dream! Skuld all grown up, and I was.. married?_

Urd looked at him sympathetically. "Bad dreams, huh?"

He shook his head clear again. The dream faded. "Yeah. I'm fine now."

_No more late night pizzas with jalapeños_ _. That was a weird dream._ _And creepy._

Then Urd heard the TV in the other room. "Oh, _Days of our Lives_ is just starting! I gotta go!" She closed the partition then started trotting down the hall to the TV. He could just hear Urd talking to herself, "I wonder if Lucas is going to break up Carrie and Austin again..."

Keiichi sat there alone for a moment. Then he slowly got up and looked around. First he went to his desk. He saw the orthographic sketches that he was drawing for his graduation project: a novel design for a high-compression two-stroke engine.

_Oh yeah, I gotta finish this project by the deadline on Thursday._

He put on a pair of khakis and a pullover shirt. He felt hungry.

_I wonder what Belldandy is making for breakfast?_

Then he heard Skuld in the other room cackling with glee, "Hah! I did it! I did it!"

_Heh, who knows with her. I'll pop in and see what the Little Engineer of Craziness has invented today._

He pulled open the sliding partition to his room and entered the main hall. He padded on his stocking feet past the TV room. With a passing glance through the open partition he saw Urd floating in the air, watching the TV with rapt attention. Apparently Lucas was threatening to reveal Carrie's secret if she didn't leave Austin for him.

_She's such a TV addict. I heard our prefecture is supposed to be wired for cable TV soon. It has a 24 hour Soap Channel. Good grief, if we get that we'll never pry Urd away from the TV._

Keiichi planned to just take a quick peek into Skuld's workroom before breakfast. The partition was open, so he stopped a second to see what kind of craziness she was up to.

Skuld was in full geek-out mode, wearing a heavy work apron and her bizarre _Young Frankenstein_ soup-can goggles. It appeared that she was busy vivisecting poor Banpei, for he was strapped to an operating table with most of his electronics and servos hanging out of his chest. He raised an arm weakly, as if asking for help.

Keiichi chuckled to himself.

_I'm glad she's having fun. She had hardly any time for that after the war. And even afterwards she was always drowning in red tape. She usually never had time for this kind of fun._

Then he froze. Wait, the war? Red tape? He had a vision of a tall beautiful woman with black hair and brown eyes.

Skuld finally noticed him staring. "What? I'm busy."

"Oh, uh.."

"Well?"

He looked at poor Banpei. "Uh, I think Banpei is in distress.."

"Huh? Oh, Naw. I'm just installing a new motivator into him. 30% better efficiency and 25% better power output. He'll love it! Right, Banpei?"

His arm kept moving weakly as if to say 'please kill me'.

"Maybe you should turn him off first before doing open heart surgery on him like that. You know, like anesthesia."

She shrugged, "Yeah, I suppose. Okay, Banpei, nighty-night!" Banpei lowered his arm. Skuld switched him off. Then she dived into his chest again.

Keiichi kept looking at her. He had this warm feeling inside of him. She was happy. This child had such simple happiness. He felt really happy for her. Happy that she was happy, that this child had such simple joy.

_Cheerish this time._

Again he shook his head. He couldn't understand where these weird thoughts were coming from.

He was hungry. He entered the kitchen.

His cushion was already prepared at the breakfast table, like it always was.

His breakfast was already sitting there waiting on the table, like it always was.

Belldandy was already standing with her hands held together, like she always was.

He froze again and _stared_.

Belldandy. Here. Now. Real. Alive.

So Alive.

"Belldandy?"

"Yes, Keiichi?"

"Belldandy!"

"Keiichi are you all right?"

"BELLDANDY!"

He practically knocked her over. He was smothering her face with kisses.

To say she was startled by his behavior was more than an understatement.

They fell on the floor.

"Belldandy! Oh! Belldany!" More kisses all over her face.

She didn't know how to react. He finally realized what he was doing. He sat up quickly. "I.. sorry.. I.."

She was absolutely stunned. He had never kissed her once during all these years. Not once. Not one single time.

And now here he was, covering her cheeks with gentle kisses, acting as if she had returned from the dead.

She sensed his feelings. They were overwhelming. The passion. Incredible.

_Keiichi, what happened to you? Your feelings are so strong!_

They were both on the floor. She kneeled close to him. Her face was a combination of happiness and perplexion.

They both sat up.

Then he leaned forward and grappled her a second time. This time she managed to squeak out "Keiichi!" before getting bowled over again.

He hugged her as if he hadn't seen her in a lifetime.

_Keiichi, your feelings are washing over me. They are so powerful._

She sensed it. It was clear to her that his eros inhibition was broken, that someone, or something, had broken it. It was a secret that she had never revealed to him: That he had, until now, a permanent mental block on his libido that would prevent him from ever experiencing, or even fantasizing about, having physical love with a goddess.

She gently returned his grappling hug, trying to calm him down. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here."

"I know.. I love you so much. I'm so sorry."

_He's so tender, caring, and unashamed. He has such passion. It's overwhelming.._

She could feel it affecting her. _This feeling.. What is it? Warm.. Building inside me.._

He pulled away and caressed her face in both his hands, wiping his own tears off of her face. He kissed her cheek again.

_This feeling.. So powerful.._

"Belldandy, I love you so much."

_He says it so effortlessly.._

"Keiichi.."

__These feelings are bubbling up inside me.. Too strong.. I can't stop them.._ _

She started to gently kiss his him back, on the face. Soft, gentle, chaste kisses on the cheek. "Keiichi.."

Then their lips met. It was purely accidental.

The kiss seemed to trigger something within her, feelings that she never had never felt before, at least not at this level of intensity. The strength of her own passion seemed to catch her by surprise. She wasn't ready for this. Real kisses, growing deeper, more intense. And then.. and then..

And then she stopped and shoved him back.

__No! This isn't supposed to happen! Not here! Not now!_ _

They were both panting hard. That was close. They had almost went plunging over the edge, right there on the floor of the kitchen. It could have happened right then and there. It was that close.

They were both red with embarrassment. They were again kneeling on the floor. Neither could look at the other.

To his credit it was Keiichi that recovered first. He switched from his knees to a sitting position. "What the heck was that?"

Belldandy took longer to recover. She was still on her knees and panting.

_That feeling.. so warm.. so deep.. and.. and.. I never before felt.._

Now it was Keiichi's turn to become concerned. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. I just flipped out." Then he frowned. "This isn't like me. Or you."

Belldandy was still trying to recover. "No.. it isn't.."

He thought. "Aha! A love potion. Urd did something, I bet."

Her panting slowed. "No.."

_I will never forget this feeling._

"Or maybe it was a seed of love? You remember how you got all amorous after you ate a seed by mistake that time? You even tried to sneak into bed with me, remember?"

"No, this was not compulsion." _This feeling._

He looked about, "Peorth isn't skulking about, is she?"

"No." She knew the feelings were real. Her mind was still reeling from the experience.

His eyes widened. "Hild! It's gotta be!"

"I suppose it might. But it would have to have been subtle."

He crossed his arms. "Yep, it was Hild. Or Marller working as her proxy. Gotta be. They tried to mess us up."

Belldandy worked her way up to a standing position. She was still a little unsteady.

"Keiichi, please stand up. Let me look at you. Your aura." He did.

Her blue eyes stared at him. Then those eyes narrowed.

Then the eyes widened. "I see something."

Then they heard a voice behind them. "Would you like a second opinion from a professional?"

Their two heads slowly turned and stared at the platinum haired goddess, who was standing there at the open partition. She was there the whole time and saw everything.

Keiich glared, "Urd! This is private!"

"What? I was just coming in to the kitchen to grab a soda, and I see you two wrestling on the floor. C'mon, I had to watch! I've been waiting for this moment for three years!"

Belldandy said, "Urd, please.."

"Hey, I'm not gonna apologize. You want privacy? Then get a room first. I can recommend this great love hotel.."

Keiichi exclaimed, "Urd!"

"Sheesh. I'm kidding. Still, it's clear you need my help."

Belldandy said, "Yes, we do. Urd, please come stand here next to me. Now look at Keiichi's aura. I want your opinion."

Urd sauntered over. "Well, it's gonna be bright orange, right? The color of _passion_ , heh."

"That's not it. Look closely. The edges especially."

Urd used her powers to change her costume into her Doctor Urd get-up, complete with stethoscope. Then she pulled out a pair of glasses - with no actual lenses in them - and started to look him over. "Hmm.. I see... Very interesting.."

Keiichi was getting annoyed. "Urd, stop it."

Then Urd stepped back. She stopped acting. "Wait, the edges are iridescent, rainbow rotation.. so fast.."

Belldandy sighed, "Thank heavens. I thought I was hallucinating for a second. So you see it."

Urd wasn't joking around any more. "Uh, yeah. Wow.. Keiichi.."

"What? Tell me."

Belldandy looked at him with a strange mixture of awe, concern, fear, and love.

"Keiichi, you are at least 100 years old."

"What?"

"And you have, or more likely had, powers far beyond anything I have ever seen."

Urd blinked her eyes. She took off her fake glasses. "Keiichi, you've been in the presence of powers that could have kicked Hild's ass to Mars."

Belldandy frowned, "Indeed."

Urd started to think.

_Hmm. When he awoke this morning he was having a nightmare. He was saying something about Skuld, what was it? Oh yeah, 'Official Veto!'_

Her eyes lit up. "WHAT!" Her brain went tilt. She plopped on the floor.

Keiichi and Belldandy looked on with some alarm at the now-collapsed goddess, who looked as if something had just whacked her on the side of the head with a mallet. And mentally that wasn't far from the truth.

Then, in a stunned monotone, Urd said it aloud: "Around a hundred years from now Keiichi is going to be the veto-spouse of that little twerp."

The two sisters stared at each other.

Keiichi's eyes lit up. "Veto-spouse! That's it! I remember now! I have to go back! She booted me back here because I was trying to stop her from destroying Asgard! I grabbed her body!"

He was jumping up and down. "That's it! I grabbed Skuld's body! I grabbed her body!"

"Wait, you grabbed my body?"

Skuld had to walk in at exactly that moment, of course.

"Uh.."

"You grabbed my body? When? When I was asleep? Ooh! You.. you pervert!"

"No.. it's not true! I didn't!"

Skuld pulled a weird helmet out of null space and squashed it on top of Keiichi's head. "This is the DynaSkuld 1000 Truth Detector. Now answer me again! Have you ever grabbed my body when I was asleep?"

"No!"

A red light went on. "Liar!"

He fidgeted guiltily and said,"Well, ok, maybe I sorta did a few times, in a sense. But it wasn't like that! Let me explain.."

"Argh! You double-pervert! This is low even for you!"

Then she whipped out a black spherical device with U-shaped loops.

"Skuld bomb!"

In unison the rest said, "Nooo!"

But it was too late.

* * *

Urd lorded over Skuld as she watched her clean up what was left of the kitchen.

Meanwhile Belldandy escorted Keiichi back to his room.

She kneeled next to him. "I think I'm starting to understand this."

Keiichi held up his hand. "Stop, let me try to explain it first."

Belldandy waited.

Keiichi took a breath. Then he spoke: "Skuld is a master at creating traps. So she created a honey trap for me. The best trap she could design. The perfect trap. Because she knows me. I mean, look at the situation: Here I am, with the experience of 100 years of wisdom, with my eros unlocked, and here you are, alive, right here, with me.

"So here I am, perfectly ready and willing to cross the line with you. Right here, right now. Belldandy, if I asked you to marry me, right now, you would. If asked you to go through the Judgement Gate with me, right now, you would. And if I asked you to stay with me forever, well, we already know the answer to that one. No inhibitions. Nothing is stopping us."

Belldandy looked down. "And it's the perfect trap for you."

"Yes. Skuld is a genius."

"Belldandy, you have to send me back. She'll destroy Asgard."

She stared into space. "Y-Yes.. we have to send you back.."

"I know. This is hurting you too. I'm sorry."

"It's all right. But.. I can't send you back alone. All three Norns must participate to cast a Time spell."

"So how will you explain this to Skuld?"

"I'll talk to Urd. She'll think of something to say."

There was a pause.

"Belldandy, I love you so much."

Her eyes teared up. "You say that so easily now.. You kiss me so easily.. And now that I see you like this I love you so much more."

"I know." They hugged again.

She held his hand tightly. "Listen to me carefully. I need to tell you this. While I can, while you're here. You have a very important role. A very important purpose. You realize that now. And now you know it carries a heavy price. And we are both willing to pay it. But, Keiichi, there's more. There's a deeper purpose at work here. You are growing, your experiences, the wisdom you have gained over these 100 years of your life. It's changing you. It's slowly transforming you.. I.. I so desperately want to tell you.."

He waited. She looked at him.

Then she gently placed his hand back in his lap and let go.

"No. You're not ready. Even now."

"It's okay. I understand."

She smiled through a tear. "But I will tell you every secret. I promise I will. One day, no secrets. I'll reveal to you everything."

"Belldandy, I've waited a century. I can wait a little while longer."

"Yes, we'll wait.. just a little longer.."

She knew how long that would likely be.

Then Belldandy broke down. She grabbed him and hugged him, crying as hard as she could.

And this time it was Keiichi's turn to console her.

* * *

The Time ceremony had begun. Keiichi was standing in the middle of an intricately carved circle.

It was done. The ritual was complete. He felt his body floating.

Just then, Belldandy yelled out, "I love you! I'll wait for you!"

Before he could respond his eyes were covered in whiteness.

_I know! I love you!_

_All right, Skuld, get ready. This is war._

_I just hope you will forgive me for this._

_Assuming we even survive._

* * *

_82 years later_

"Wind-shift! Do it! Now!"

A few seconds later they re-appeared above and behind the monstrous form of the Rider.

Thoriko yelled, "What in the name of Tarsus is Mother doing? She almost trampled us!"

Lindy frowned, "And look, she's wearing The Destroyer. That's not good."

"Not good? That's too much! We need to win this battle and quash the revolution, not nuke everything in sight! What does she intend to do?"

"Nuke everything in sight."

"No!"

Lindy looked on. "She's ending the world. And if we are very lucky..."

Thoriko stared at her sister.

"... she will kill us last."

* * *

**A/N:**

OMG Chapter 302 was recently translated to English (January 2014). After almost 26 years it appears that the story might finally be coming to a conclusion. At least it feels like it.

I predicted this outcome back in July 2013 in the author notes of _Fifth Kind_ Chapter 24. It looks like I got Belldandy and K1 right, but Skuld isn't getting kicked upstairs to run Valhalla like I predicted. I still have a chip down on my bet that Urd will take over Niflheim (athough that is looking like a long shot now).

**Update (2014/01/22):** The raws for 304-305 are out. Oh wow.. I won't spoil it, but _wow_. Rumor says that Kōsuke Fujishima intends to continue the series. And if so, the events in 304 will move the story in a whole new direction. (Either that, or OMG has now jumped the shark. Only time will tell.)

**Update (2014/02/23):** 306 is now out. Basically, and without spoiling anything too much, here is what I think happened: The revelation in 268, and the even bigger one in 285, had a major impact on the way that Keiichi saw Belldandy. He was finally told why their relationship had never progressed any further. And so, for the first time, he began to really understand just how wide the gap actually is between a human and a goddess. (It even gets lampshaded when he has to 'jump the impossible gap' in 301.) It ultimately leads to his fateful decision in 302, and that leads directly to the story's climax in 304.

With 306 out, Fujishima is now settling in with what appears to be a new long-term arc. Lind is now back (yay). And, good grief, we might even see the temple again (gone since 2009). Is Fujishima returning to simple slice-of-life stories? Or will he explore all the still-ongoing havoc being caused from what Hrungnir did to Earth starting back at 243? Lind is now on the scene, so I'm guessing the later. We shall see.

-HuuskerDu


	19. The Angel of Wrath

**Chapter 19: The Angel of Wrath**

_82 years ago_

Urd looked up. "Well, he's on his way."

Belldandy said, "Yes, he is gone."

Just then Keiichi walked up behind them. "Hey everybody, what's up?"

All three goddesses jumped. It was the original 21-year old Keiichi, the college senior who would soon graduate in a few months. His whole life was still ahead of him.

Urd put her hand behind her head, "Oh! Hi Keiichi. We are, uh, just doing some practice spells."

"Really, like what?"

"Uh, we're testing Skuld to see if see if she can cast anything yet."

"That's great! Any luck with that?"

"Nope, nothin'. She's still as useless as a bump on a pig's behind."

Skuld glared at Urd, "Hey! I don't need your abuse! What were we actually doing anyway?"

Urd pushed Skuld along, "Nevermind that. Let me take you back to your room now. C'mon, let's go."

"Hey! Stop pushing me!" The two squabbling sisters left together.

Keiichi then retired to his room to study. Belldandy sat on the stoop outside. It was night. The air was cool and crisp, with no moon. She gazed up at the stars.

An hour later Keiichi took a break from his studies. She was still sitting there by herself. He quietly sat down next to her. Neither spoke. He simply looked up at the stars with her. Finally he turned to look at her. "They are very beautiful, don't you think?"

"Yes, they are."

A short time later the phone rang in the hallway.

Belldandy got up. "Excuse me, I'll answer it." She did. She listened. She asked a question and she received an answer. Then she hung up the phone. She looked into space for a moment.

Urd walked down the hall towards her and asked, "Who was that on the phone?"

Belldandy's face remained impassive. "It was the Almighty*. He has requested our presence for a meeting. All of us."

Urd grew excited. "Really? All of us?"

"Yes."

Urd thought for a moment. "You know, I don't think we should leave Keiichi behind by himself." It was because Banpei had spotted Marller skulking around the temple grounds a few days prior.

Belldandy nodded. "I agree. We should not leave Keiichi unprotected. That is why we will bring him with us. The Almighty has already given permission."

Urd was somewhat surprised. "He did? That's pretty unusual. Mortals normally aren't allowed up to go Upstairs."

"I know."

Urd could sense it. "Belldandy, what's wrong?"

She didn't respond. "We need to go. The summons was immediate. I'll fetch Keiichi. You get Skuld. Meet us outside."

Urd went back to fetch her cranky little sister.

The four of them gathered outside the temple. Keiichi was excited. "Wow, I've always wanted to see Asgard. I've heard you all talk about it so many times. Man, I finally get to see it - the palace of Valhalla, the tree of Yggdrasil, the Bifröst bridge. This will be really neat!"

Belldandy said, "Yes, I suppose so."

Urd looked at her sister. She leaned in and whispered, "C'mon, what's the matter? Tell me."

"Nothing. We should go." Her face remained calm and composed.

It was because Belldandy knew that she would not be returning from this trip. For great events would soon come to pass. Hild would spring her most ingenious trap against the Almighty, and the Queen of Hell had to be stopped no matter the cost, for she was maneuvering to lay claim on Valhalla itself.

Hild had to be stopped.

Keiichi had to protected.

Belldandy knew what she had to do.

 _And after I am promoted, who will stay behind to protect my beloved Keiichi?_ She thought for a moment. _Ah, of course. She will give him the best possible protection._

She decided that as soon as they arrived in Valhalla she would mentally contact Tyr to ask. He already hinted as much on the phone.

Belldandy looked wistfully up into the beautiful night sky. Her gaze looked up higher and higher, her vision roaming far and wide. In her mind's eye she soared across the starry heavens above, moving even higher still, beyond even space and time, out to where she and her beloved would eventually go.

_Keiichi, you have just started on your long journey._

_And at the end_

_I will be waiting._

* * *

_82 years later_

The sisters floated above and behind the Rider, watching it in stunned astonishment.

Thoriko couldn't believe what she was seeing. "The Destroyer! Mother is going to kill everybody!"

Then the sisters saw a large figure on the ground that was rushing towards the Rider. "Is that who I think it is?"

Lindy said, "Thrymr is going up against Mother."

Thoriko shook her head, "Idiot."

Then they saw the She-Hulk come to a skidding stop, do a fast 180, and run in the opposite direction, fleeing the scene of battle as fast as possible, yelling "AAeeeiiiieee!"

Lindy mused, "Well, she's not as dumb as I thought."

"Nevermind that! We have to do something!"

"Like what? What could we possibly do against _that_?" She pointed at the Rider on the hill, for it had just reached the top.

The Rider was monstrous in size, looming over everyone and everything. Its form was majestic and terrible. Its eyes were aflame like blazing suns. In its right hand it held Gungnir, the spear of Odin, and upon its left hand was the Ring of Doom. And the armor of The Destroyer gleamed in the morning sun.

And then Sleipnir, also huge in size, reared up and roared.

The vision of the Rider upon that hill was terrifying beyond imagination. All fled before it, for none could countenance its gaze upon them. They all now knew beyond any doubt that their doom was at hand.

And then the Rider spoke. And its words reached every sentient creature on Asgard, in every hiding place, near and far, low and high, wherever they might be found, for none would be spared.

"YOU HAVE DESTROYED YOURSELVES. I HAVE COME TO FINISH WHAT YOU HAVE STARTED."

The Rider dismounted and stood, tall and mighty. It gazed upon the condemned without pity or mercy.

Then the armor of The Destroyer began to glow. It was gathering power into itself, and in doing so the Rider and its mount reduced in size, but that did not lessen the majesty of their form.

And then the Angel of Death raised its finger and pointed at the nearest group of fleeing combatants. A huge shaft of light leapt from her finger, a blinding white beam, and it reached out to touch them. And the combatants were no more. Not even their corpses were left behind, for there was nothing was left to bury.

And then the finger of the Rider moved abroad in the land, the blinding white light shooting out in great arcs, destroying every sentient creature in its path.

By now all were fleeing or in hiding. But there was no place to hide, for the piercing eyes of the Angel of Wrath saw through every rock and tree, every hill and dale. It found them, and it obliterated them all wherever they hid.

The sisters had landed on the side of the hill slightly in front and to the left of the Angel of Wrath. They watched the holocaust unfold until Thoriko could bear to look no further. She turned away and knelt on that hillside, the morning dew staining her knees with mud. "She's really doing it. She's killing everybody."

Lindy knelt down next to her. So far the Rider had ignored them both. The niece of Thor turned to her sister in despair, "You are right, Mother will kill us last." They hugged each other and waited for the inevitable.

Now, during the hug Lindy kept looking on over her shoulder. Unlike her sister she continued to watch the Angel of Wrath on its rampage of death.

Lindy, the master of deception, watched her Mother kill.

Her eyes narrowed.

Wait..

Hmm.

Could it?

Oh.. of course.

Of course!

Then she jumped to her feet. "I got it! We have to help! C'mon! Let's go!" She dragged Thoriko to her feet. "We need to hurry! I don't know if he can do it alone!"

Her sister caught the pronoun, "'He'?"

"It's Father! Oh.. He's so wonderfully devious and clever. Where do you think I get it from? Hurry!"

Thoriko was dumbstruck by her sister's words, but she obeyed. Together they rushed to the Great Angel's side.

Now that they were close up, Thoriko could got a good look at her face.

The Great Angel was grimacing with concentration.

Lindy moved behind the Angel and slapped her hand on the armor of The Destroyer, then she turned to face her sister. "Quick! Touch me! I can transfer the energy of The Destroyer and the Ring to you. You have to help him! Help him do the wind-shifts and track the dissolutions! He can't track them all himself!"

Thoriko was dumbfounded, "Wind-shifts? You mean it's Keiichi.. but that's impossible. He can't do that! His whirlwind powers only work on Earth! Besides, that is a disintegration beam!"

"With those artifacts he can! The beam is just for show!"

"You mean he's actually doing.. wait.." Could it be? Yes!

Thoriko placed her hand on Lindy's shoulder. Energy poured into her.

It was intoxicating. She felt power surge into her body on level not experienced in Asgard since Odin was young. Thoriko felt euphoric, giddy.

_Focus girl, stay focused. We have to help Father. But this feeling, such power.. I am invincible! I can do anything! No, stay focused._

_Focus. I have to help Father destroy the world i_ _n order to save it._

And so she did.

Together with her father they were vaporizing everyone. Demons, gods, and goddesses fled in sheer panic. They were being disintegrated as they ran away. It was terrifying. It happened much like the slaughter of the poor souls who ran away from the Martian death-ray in _The War of the Worlds_ (2005), with people running side-by-side while exploding into nothingness, one by one, as they ran.

She closed her eyes. She could see her victims with her eyes shut. Many were hiding, some underground. She found them and disintegrated them.

Her mind went far and wide, ranging over the surface and beneath it. _We have to find them all. This is just like _Pokémon_! Gotta catch 'em all! Ha ha!_

In her euphoria she lost track of time. She knew she had disintegrated at least 400 targets so far. Then her mind's eye found a bunker with three souls hiding inside it, somehow shielded. She concentrated. There was resistence. She drew in more power from The Destroyer, from the Ring, and from the Spear. Lindy uttered a painful gasp as she channeled all that extra power through herself and into her sister. The extra power quickly overwhelmed the resistence inside the bunker. Thoriko disintegrated the three stubborn targets. That time she could actually feel the scream of one of the victims as he was obliterated.

Then her mind's eye moved on as she disintegrated hundreds more.

She did not disintegrate the non-sentients, for there was no point in doing so. But even they sensed the calamity, and with their animal instincts they too fled the field of battle.

She performed each disintegration slowly and methodically, the ablation sweeping from bottom to top, so that each victim could realize what was happening and see it. Each victim watched their feet and legs fly apart, then watched the destruction work its way up through their abdomens, and then their chests, up and up, until they were no more. Their horrible screams echoed in the hills.

The psychological effect was brutal, but it was necessary. The point had to be made.

There was a limit.

There was a limit to what a god could tolerate before his wrath would finally descend.

Now, Thoriko had never understood the human's strange direct communion with the Top, with the El Shaddai ( שַׁדַּי ), But she had heard some things about His relationship with those lowly creatures. What astonished Thoriko was how incredibly slow to anger He was, so abounding in love and mercy, so quick to forgive sin and rebellion. He was someone who relented in sending calamity against his wayward children.

She knew that she herself did not possess that much patience, not by a long shot. Nor did anyone else she knew. Not Keiichi, not anybody.

No one could possibly be that patient and tolerant of open rebellion for that long a time, could they?

And what would happen when that incredible patience finally ran out?

She continued to flay apart more victims, her mind sweeping back and forth over the entire disc of Asgard.

She then noticed that her father's light beam had stopped.

He was too exhausted to go on. Even with the help of The Destroyer, the Ring, and the Spear, he had reached the limit of his strength.

So Throiko took over from him and mopped up the remaining stragglers herself. Her mind's eye found a few, far away, that were asleep. She woke them up and disintegrated them too.

Her mind's eye swept the disc of Asgard again.

Nothing sentient moved.

Thoriko finally took her hand away from Lindy's shoulder. "It is done."

Around them was utter silence.

Everyone was obliterated, everyone was wiped from the face of the world.

The air was opaque, a thick fog. Thoriko could barely see.

It was a fog of carbon, nitrogen, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, sodium chloride, oxygen and hydrogen (as water vapor), plus some trace minerals: iron, magnesium, iodine, cobalt, manganese, and zinc.

And so the prediction of the Blue File had come true: that if war or rebellion ever broke out then every person in Asgard would be destroyed.

Lindy then grabbed Thoriko's hand. "Ok, now the hard part. You ready?"

She nodded. "This will take everything we have."

"Father?"

The Angel of Wrath gasped, "Yes.. hurry.. I can't hold them much longer.."

Lindy re-established the power chain. Thoriko closed her eyes again.

She and her father then did the re-integrations. They reassembled each victim's body, working from bottom to top again, but much more quickly this time. Partly it was because of the time factor, as their innate whirlwind powers could only keep someone suspended in the air for so long until their mental concentration gave out. They also worked fast so that every victim would neither see, nor remember, how their re-integration actually happened. It would appear to to each one as if they were somehow suddenly and miraculously resurrected.

They did the re-integrations in clusters, with each cluster reassembled as a group: first legs, then their torsos, then finally heads, as quickly as possible, so that there would be no eye-witnesses as to how it actually happened. No one would see anyone else 'undissolving'.

And it was _hard_. Thoriko had to restore twice as many as her father. She wasn't sure if she could maintain her concentration long enough to bring them all back. _So many souls to restore. So many.._ She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. _Yes, this is just like _Pokémon_. We gotta fetch 'em all. We can't miss even one._

Thoriko felt Lindy in her mind. She was feeding her not only power but her support. { Father, sister, I have faith in you. You can do it. }

{ Keiichi: I'm.. I'm trying... so many.. }

{ Lindy: Don't give up! Keep drawing power from those artifacts. Let it flow through you. }

Thoriko did her reintegrations faster than her father could. But she had twice as many to deal with. She concentrated again. There. Yes. Got those too. Oh yes, those as well. And that pesky bunker there too.

Finally she got the last ones. She was done. She had found them all.

Thoriko dropped her knees back into the mud. "Got all of mine.. I'm exhausted.. I think I'm going to pass out..."

Lindy was alarmed. "No! Not yet! Father is faltering! I think he lost some!"

Thoriko forced herself to regroup. "What? No!"

Lindy was agitated. "We have to find them, hurry! Quick, lie down on the ground. You too Father, on each side of me. Do it now!" They did.

She kneeled between their prostrate forms of her sister and her father. She put her left hand on Thoriko's forehead and her right on Keiichi's.

{ Lindy: Father! Hang on! I'm sending Thoriko in to help you! }

Thoriko's mind whirled, then everything shifted. One moment she was looking up at the sky from Lindy's left side, and the next moment she was seeing the sky on Lindy's right. She tried to turn her head. Nothing moved. She tried to talk.

{ Thoriko: What's happening? }

"You're inside with Father. You need to help him!"

Her mind was now alongside her father's. She felt her mother's mind as well, but the latter seemed to be asleep. She wanted to ask how, but there was no time.

{ Keiichi: I lost some.. I can't go on.. }

{ Thoriko: Father, show me which ones. Concentrate on them. Don't worry if you don't have them conceptualized completely. I only need enough so I can lock on to them. }

{ Keiichi: Right.. Trying.. }

Thoriko concentrated harder as Keiichi tried to reveal to her mind the missing victims. Some were intangible, mere fragments, barely conceived. She struggled mightily to find them. There. Got some. And there, some more. And there. And there as well. More. There too. Any more? No. You sure? Yes, that was all of them.

{ Thoriko: I got them! I got them all! }

Keiichi collapsed into unconsciousness, utterly exhausted. Thoriko did a final check for any missing stragglers, then she allowed herself to do the same.

* * *

The war was over. The revolution was over.

Sleipner had already departed. Keiichi sat up groggily.

"Oy.. Do I have a headache.."

Lindy was kneeling over his prostrate form. "Father?" He saw that Thoriko was kneeling alongside him as well.

"Girls, help me pull this armor off would you please? It's messed with my mind enough already. I feel like I want to beat up everybody like King Kong."

They stripped the artifacts from his body. Keiichi then opened his personal nullspace pocket and his daughters helped him stash all the artifacts away out of sight: the armor, the spear, the ring, the helmet and the horn. It was not the most secure place to put them, but it would do for now.

Lindy again knelt in the mud in front of him, "Father, how are you feeling?"

"I feel like a mule kicked me in the head, but.. yeah I'm feeling better."

"How is Mother doing?"

"Oh yeah.. I should wake her up."

{ Keiichi: Good morning, sunshine. }

{ Skuld: Wha.. hap.. Wha' happen? }

{ Keiichi: Sorry my love. I had to put you to sleep. }

{ Skuld: Sluh.. sleep? }

{ Keiichi: It was Belldandy. She showed me how to induce a non-REM sleep state in your neo-cortex by hitting your hippocampus with a with a neural pulse at 20 times per second. You weren't expecting me to jump right back in your head like that, so I was able to put you out like a light. I know your neural net backwards and forwards, so it was pretty easy for me to make you go beddy-bye. Then I grabbed control of your body again. Sorry. }

Skuld sighed. { You and I are going to need to sit down and have a serious discussion about our relationship. }

Keiichi chuckled. { Yeah. I'm sorry. I know I've been a naughty boy. But look what happened: I jumped right back in at the same moment you booted me out. So technically I never left you. You kept your promise to never leave me. The Blue File was right again. We stayed together. }

{ Skuld: But the Blue File also said that everyone would be killed if there was rebellion.. }

{ Keiichi: It predicted that everyone would be _destroyed_ , not killed. }

{ Skuld: How did I miss that? I get it now. This was all just a demonstration exercise. }

{ Keiichi: More or less. }

{ Skuld: Hoo boy... }

And then a demon landed next to the family. He was tall and thin, with dark brown hair, a pointed chin, and piercing green eyes.

Thoriko rushed up to her husband. "Keld! What are you doing here? You need to be in the infirmary!"

Keld looked at her with a weak smile. His head was still bandaged. "No, I heard what happened. You need all the help you can get."

She shook her head, "No darling, you need to go back. You need more time to heal."

"I'm fine, just tired. I saw the other patients get wind-shifted in the infirmary. Everybody got zapped. You even zapped me. I felt it. I could tell it was you doing it."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's all right. I was laughing as you did it. Anyway, after you re-integrated me I came out here to find you. I figured you had to be in some serious trouble to do something outrageous like that."

"Thank you my love, but we're fine. Please go back. You need your rest."

Their little discussion then paused. It was because they both saw a lone figure stagger up the hill towards them. It was a foppish looking man wearing a steel helmet and a flak jacket.

Thoriko recognized him. She growled, "Troubadour. He's dead meat." She raised her arm and began to draw in a lightning spell.

Lindy gently pushed down her sister's arm, "No, dear sister. Just watch and listen."

The singing doofus lurched in front of them. Then he fell down before them, totally shaken.

"What.. what did you do? I _died_. I felt it. It was horrible!"

Lindy lorded over the prostrate man. "That's right, you died. And then we brought you back."

"Wh..why did you save me..?"

"It's called grace."

"Grace?"

"Grace. Something neither earned nor deserved."

"What I did was so wrong.. What.. what can I do to make amends..?"

"Nothing. That's the point. Just be thankful."

Thoriko piped up, "And maybe think twice next time before you try to start a revolution again."

"No.. never.."

Keiichi stood up. Unlike God's mercy and grace, the amount of grace that the Daitenkaicho was willing to bestow upon her wayward subjects was far more limited.

"Tourbadour, minstrel of the Plum Tree Spirit, you are hereby banished from Asgard."

Tourbadour pleaded with the Daitenkaicho, "But where? The gates are gone.. there's no where for me to go..."

Keiichi crossed his arms. "Oh there's a gate for you all right." He pointed. "Up there. The only one. And it leads to the Underworld. That is your new home. Start packing."

"But.. please.. "

Thoriko kicked some mud at him, "Scat! And if we ever see your face up here again.."

"All right.. I'm gone.. I'm gone.." He wandered away, still somewhat in a daze. As he walked away they heard him talking aloud to himself, "I wonder what kind of men's fashions are popular in Niflheim.. perhaps red and black.."

Thoriko nodded her head with satisfaction as she watched the minstrel go. "Well, that's that. Now for the mop up."

And then suddenly everything went dark.

Thoriko panicked, "I can't see!"

Lindy yelped, "Something grappled me!"

{ Keiichi: What is it? }

{ Skuld: I need control! Now! }

Despite the fact she could not see, Skuld could feel her unseen enemy's intent. She could sense that someone was preparing to kill her at that moment.

{ Keiichi: Done! }

Skuld was no longer wearing the armor of The Destroyer and therefore had no protection. She started a quick teleport spell. She had no time to do anything else.

But it was too late. Just before she teleported away she felt a sharp sting on her neck. Something had punctured her carotid artery.

Then the world re-appeared before Lindy's eyes.

Lindy found that she was being grappled tightly by Thrymr. She stopped struggling, as she knew it was hopeless.

Then she saw Halval. The Dark Lady approached Lindy and bowed deeply. "Madam Daimakaicho, I am honored to meet you again."

Then Lindy heard muted shouts and banging sounds. She turned her head to see where it was coming from.

Thoriko was banging her fist against a mirror. From the inside. She was trapped within it, her yells muted to the point of being nearly inaudible.

Mother and Father were gone.

And then Lindy saw a third person. It was Halval and Thrymr's new master, the one who was in secret communication with Hrungnir the entire time, the one who had arranged for the rebellion to start just before the attack.

The real traitor.

Sena.

The red haired goddess lowered the blow-pipe from her ruby lips.

Lindy struggled, then yelled, "What is that? What did you do to Mother and Father!?"

Sena gave Lindy a cold smile. "Oh, this old thing? Simple really. A dart. Black ichor."

Lindy's eyes grew wide in shock. "That.."

"Yes, my dear. Black ichor."

Lindy had heard of it but had never seen it before. It was a horrible bio-weapon from the Fourth Age, created and designed by Hrungnir per Hild's precise specifications.

Black ichor had killed Tyr and Anzus during Ragnarök.

And it was for that reason that such bio-weapons were strictly forbidden in the peace treaty that Skuld had negotiated with Eihwaz at the start of the Fifth Age. They were absolutely forbidden. No bio-weapons, no assassinations.

"That is an abomination! The treaty forbids it! No assassinations!"

"Sorry, my dear. I don't follow the rules. Rules are for inferior beings."

"No!"

"Yes, my dear child..."

Lindy went into shock as the horrible realization set in.

"... your parents are already dead."

* * *

**A/N:**

* The word 'Almighty' used here is the English translation for _kami_ ( 神 ), a generic Japanese term for a powerful being (in this case Tyr). It has no relationship with the Almighty in the Bible.


	20. Bug Hunt and Poker Showdown

**Chapter 20: Bug Hunt and Poker Showdown**

_81 years ago_

"Skuld, that was too slow. Try again."

The young girl was exhausted. It was her fourteenth attempt to run past her drill sergeant to reach the safety of the 'home base': a small cloth flag that was tired to a yardstick and inserted into an orange parking cone that stood about 20 yards behind the drill sergeant.

All Skuld had to do was run past her opponent to reach home base without being touched.

She had tried to reach the cone fourteen times and failed. No matter how fast she tried to run or dodge, her opponent was always faster. She was caught every time.

The girl started to whine, "This is too hard.."

That was a mistake.

Her drill sergeant got right up into her face. "Too hard? Too hard!? Soldier, some day you will thank your lucky stars how 'hard' this is, when you are trying to avoid being bitten in half by a owlbear, or being melted by an acid mortar, or being immolated by a dragon blast! When that happens you will kiss the ground I walk on to thank me for this training! Now, let's do it again!"

The girl was panting. It was because she said that she wanted to join the Fighting Wings and become a combat Valkyrie. She knew the training she was receiving would an important first step on that road, and that her taskmaster would be harsh and unforgiving. It was not out a sense of maliciousness, but rather a sense of duty.

It was because her drill sergeant was trying to teach her how to survive in the eternal war between Valhalla and Niflheim. The fact that her drill sergeant was also her adoptive mother did not cut her any slack.

Skuld was sweating profusely in her gray T-shirt in the hot summer air. She noticed that her mother's 'Big Bad Wolf' T-shirt - a tongue-in-cheek gift that Skuld had presented to her mom after they had discovered that she was an _ōkami_ \- had no sweat stains on it at all.

Her drill sergeant could see how exhausted she was, so she yelled, "Time out!" Skuld then walked over to the cooler to pull out a bottle of water. The cooler was full of ice, much of which had since melted, so she plunged her hand into the freezing water to pull out a bottle. Then she sat on the lid of the cooler and chugged it down.

Her mother walked over an sat next to her. She smiled. "I'll gave you an 'A' for effort..."

Skuld pulled another swig from bottle. "Thanks."

"... but a 'D' for tactics."

Skuld glared at her. "'D'? But I ran my heart out!"

"Yes, you did. But sometimes you have to use other methods."

Skuld looked at her mother questioningly.

"Sometimes, the best way to reach an objective is to run the other way."

Skuld shook her head, "I don't understand..."

"Don't just run at the cone. Think laterally."

"But I did run laterally and I dodged but you, but you were faster."

"I didn't say _run_ laterally, I said _think_ laterally. You are right, I am faster. What does that tell you?"

Skuld thought. "That I can't beat you.."

Her mother waited.

".. so I have to avoid you."

"That's right."

"I did! I dodged away from you!"

"But I saw you and intercepted you."

Skuld thought some more. Then her eyes brightened as she realized what her mother was trying to teach her. She stood up and wiped her lips with her forearm. "Okay, I wanna do it again."

"Right."

Her mother assumed her stance: legs spread part, arms loose, ready. "Go!"

Skuld then turned around and ran away.

Her mother smiled.

They were practicing on the west side of the temple grounds on a strip of grass between the woods and the back side of the temple. Skuld proceeded to run around the building, intending to emerge on the far side opposite her mother and nearer the cone. Then she planned to sneak or run to reach the flag. Skuld ran around the first corner, then the second. She was just about to round the third corner when..

"Gotcha!" Her mother lunged from around the third corner. She had anticipated Skuld's end-run.

"Dang it!"

"Much better. Now, try again. Remember, think laterally."

They reset their positions.

"Go!"

Again, Skuld turned around and ran around the building in the opposite direction, the same as before. Her mother tilted her head, wondering why she was repeating the same tactic. She trotted over to the third corner to wait in ambush again. Then suddenly she realized what has happening and whirled around.

Skuld had reversed direction and was running directly to the flag. Her mother then jumped 40 yards in a single flying leap and tackled the girl a mere 2 yards from the objective.

Skuld spit out some blades of grass. "Aw.. you're cheating! I should have won!"

"No. You did much better, and I'm proud of you. You're learning tactics and how to adapt. That's good. But you still haven't beaten me."

"That's impossible!"

"Let's do it again. Remember.. think laterally."

They reset again.

"Go!"

Skuld again turned and ran in the opposite direction. Her mother quickly checked the third corner, then trotted back to the fourth corner to watch for a possible reverse run. Skuld was nowhere to be found. She checked both corners again. Then she did a 360. Nothing. She jumped 30 feet in the air to get a glimpse of the roof. Not there.

Where did that girl go? She took a chance and did a sprint around the whole building. Nothing. She wasn't anywhere to be found. Did she go inside the temple? But that tactic didn't make sense. There were no windows on the back side, no access. She trotted back to the flag and did another 360. Another jump. Nothing. The woods maybe? She did a quick sprint to check. Nothing there either. Then she heard a splash behind her.

She whirled around in astonishment.

Skuld was holding the flag, dripping wet, freezing, her teeth chattering between her blue lips. "I win!"

The open ice cooler was now laying on its side, having tipped over when Skuld climbed out of it after using her water-teleportation ability to teleport from the bathtub to the ice cooler.

The drill sergeant beamed at her young recruit.

_She has it, the instinct, the spunk, the attitude, of a fighter._

Her mother could tell from her own experience. She had trained over a hundred Valkyries over a thousand years. She knew that one day Skuld would become an outstanding combat Valkyrie.

No mother could have been more proud of her daughter than she was that day.

* * *

_81 years later_

Skuld's combat senses told her that someone was preparing to kill her right at that moment. She instantly teleported away.

_Sometimes, the best way to reach an objective is to run the other way._

One of the key aspects of her Valkyrie training was the development of an instinctual fight-or-flight response. She had the ability to instantly judge a tactical situation and then react quickly and decisively.

When attacked in a blind ambush, her training taught her that when no defensive objective was present the proper response was to 1) withdraw, 2) assess, 3) act.

So she withdrew. Her daughters were probably also under attack, but they were also both fully trained combat Valkyries, first class, and should have reacted the same way. Neither could do a blind teleport of course, but in that kind of situation she knew they would have quickly flown away, assuming they were able.

Lindy yelled out that someone had grappled her. It was unfortunate, but her response was good. She clearly and concisely communicated her combat status to the rest of the party. A grapple meant that whoever attacked her did not intend to cause her any immediate injury.

Thoriko yelled in surprise that she couldn't see. That was not so good. It should have been instantly obvious to her, as it was to everyone else in the party, that it was Halval who was attacking, so the information was useless. Training dictated that she should have either remained silent or shouted out useful tactical information as Lindy did. If Skuld was still the leader of the Fighting Wings she would have given her subordinate a demerit and a lecture for improper reaction in an emergency combat situation.

Still, Skuld would have tempered her remarks due to extenuating circumstances. Thoriko was exhausted, both physically and mentally, after having just disintegrated and re-integrated almost a thousand living souls. If she was not so tired she probably would have reacted properly and fled. Also, her husband, Keld, was in the zone of attack. It was possible that Thoriko intended to remain behind to shield him. Still, she should not have shouted.

Keld himself was an insignificant tactical factor in the skirmish. He was only second class, with no real combat training that Skuld knew of, and his spell repertoire was decidedly non-offensive. His main skill was the projection of a force cage to temporarily capture an opponent.

Therefore she concluded that Thoriko was probably the person most in jeopardy, other than herself.

She knew her own situation was the worst. During the ambush she could feel the murderous emotional intent of her unseen attacker. And so, using her trained instincts, Skuld had instantly performed an emergency teleport: She shifted herself one kilometer in a random lateral direction. Now, normally a random emergency teleport like that was very dangerous. One could materialize inside of solid rock or a tree. But they were all standing on the highest hill on the battlefield so her lateral teleport caused her to simply reappear in mid-air some distance away.

She had teleported away almost instantly but it was too late. The transfer of her bodily control from Keiichi to herself had taken a fraction of a second too long. Just before she teleported she felt a sharp sting on her neck. Something had punctured her carotid artery.

Skuld smacked the dart from her neck before it could inject more than a small fraction of its deadly payload, but it was enough. She immediately felt the nanites coursing through her bloodstream. She recognized the poison: black ichor, a bio-weapon that Hild had designed to assassinate the leadership of Valhalla.

She recognized it because she had personally researched it. She did so partly because her engineering instincts were intrigued by the use of nanites - microscopic self-replicating bio-mechanical bugs - and partly to see if she could design an antidote or counter-measure in case it was ever used again. But Keiichi had negotiated the new treaty with Eihwaz to set the rules of the Fifth Age: No bio-weapons and no assassinations. So she had shelved her research project thinking it unnecessary.

She knew how the poison killed: the nanites crossed the blood-brain barrier and then consumed the brain's neurons as food, rupturing the cellular membranes of the brain cells to spill out their contents, then using the proteins and mitochondria from the destroyed cellular matter to manufacture more nanites. It killed by literally eating its victim's brain alive. Eventually the nanites would reach the limbic system and breathing would stop.

But the victim would become a mental vegetable long before that happened. 'Long' in this case was in a relative sense: Once the nanites crossed the blood-brain barrier it took them only about 20-30 seconds before enough cellular damage occurred to shut down the frontal lobes and the cerebellum, causing delirium, blindness, convulsions, and finally unconsciousness and death.

Skuld took emergency measures. First, she sped up her subjective sense of time by a factor of 100. This was possible because she was an Aggregate Principal Representative, an entity with 100 times more mental capacity than a human mind. Until now she had used only a small fraction of her potential mental capacity. That fact was often the source of many jokes that Keiichi had playfully made at her expense.

But not today.

{ Skuld: Once they cross the barrier we have maybe twenty seconds in real time before we effectively become a mental vegetable. }

{ Keiichi: Tell me what to do. }

{ Skuld: Gimmie a minute. }

{ Keiichi: Wait, we don't have a minute! }

{ Skuld: I sped up our sense of time. We now have maybe 15-20 subjective minutes left. So shush and lemmie think. }

Skuld then concentrated within her mind. She wanted to visualize the diagram of the nanites' design, their mechanical layout in an orthographic projection. It was a diagram that she herself had drafted when she first researched the horrible little things after the war. The diagram was still stored somewhere in her personal dataset in her office. She tried to recall the image in her mind.

She managed to visualize it from memory. She mentally converted the orthographic projection into a transparent 3-D model. Then she rotated it in her mind and studied it. She thought it was a typical Hrungnir design: efficient, effective, elegant, but unimaginative and uninspired.

She did a mental frown. The nanites were armored against counterattacks by macrophages or antibodies. Normal antibodies could not stop it.

Hmm. But what about artificial antibodies? Ones designed by an engineering genius who was now running at 100 times her normal mental ability?

She saw that each nanite featured twin flagella that rotated clockwise and counter-clockwise like the twin screws of a steamship. The design gave the bug both mobility and agility. Then Skuld identified the bug's weakness: a shared mitochondrial engine with a complex biomechanical powertrain, essentially gears, to generate the rotation to power both flagella simultaneously in opposite directions. That gearing was delicate. It was located right under the membrane of the nanite on its top side, creating a hump.

That was her target. Hit that hump with a small impact and the gearbox would shatter. The nanite would become effectively immobile, paralyzed. If she could hit them all she could then go to her lab to design her own nanites to clean them out of her bloodstream.

But she needed a weapon, a counter-measure, right now. Essentially she needed a hammer. Skuld quickly went to work within her own mind to build it. She concentrated as she constructed her counter-weapon.

Two of them.

There was no time to build a targeting program. The weapons had to be used manually.

She picked up her weapon by its handle. She gave the second one to her partner.

{ Keiichi: What's this? } To him it looked like a red croquet mallet.

{ Skuld: It's a mallet. Actually it's a subjective mental representation of the counter-measure, but it's close enough. }

{ Keiici: A mallet? }

{ Skuld: A mallet. Smash the bugs. }

{ Keiichi: I get it. This is just like that bug hunt at the temple? }

{ Skuld: You got it. }

{ Keiichi. Yeah. We smashed the bugs that were coming out of the Yggdrasil computer. That happened the first day I ever met you. }

{ Skuld: Yep, the first day we met. Same thing. Smash 'em on the hump. }

{ Keiichi: Woo hoo! This will be fun! }

{ Skuld: Okay, sure, think of it as a game if you want. Have lots of fun. But just remember that if we lose this game then those bugs will eat our brain. }

{ Keiichi: Your brain. I'm just along for the ride. Say, can I trade up to a better model? }

{ Skuld: Grr.. }

{ Keiichi: Kidding. Let's go! }

And so the bug hunt began.

* * *

Lindy looked around and assessed the situation. Thrymr still had her grappled. She saw that Keld was looking around in alarm. She knew he was still weak from his mental exorcism. He had no energy to fight. She saw that her sister was ensealed behind a mirror, a typical demon entrapment technique, probably done by Halval.

And what of Mother and Father? For now, there was nothing she could do for them. Lind knew her own situation was very fluid and delicate, and highly volatile. Sena was totally out of control, possibly psychotic, and therefore very dangerous. She had just attempted to assassinate the Daitenkaicho, almost as if on a whim. She knew that Sena could, and probably eventually would, kill the rest of them with the same nonchalance.

They had all misjudged Sena. There was no doubt that she was clearly a co-leader in the rebellion, having stood on the hill with Troubadour to incite the crowd. Her beef was against 'mixed bloods', beings who were not 100% Asgardians. That fact was also well known. And Sena had also railed against Skuld for 'defiling' her own mind by bonding her husband's mentality into herself.

But what they did not know was that Sena was a megalomaniac.

Lindy knew she had to act quickly. She analyzed the situation.

_Asset: Keld. Neutral: Thrymr. Enemy: Sena. Wildcard: Halval._

She had only one trick planned in advance, and then only as a contingency: That if the lights ever went dark she would immediately change her eyes back to _tsurime_ , with the outer corners of the eyelids slanting upwards in distinct sharp points. She had composed her eyes that way the entire time she was living in Niflheim. Halval had never seen her when her eyes were _tareme_ , round and soft.

Sena had not seen Lindy up close since Goddess High School. Lindy hoped that Sena did not notice the change in her eyes. After all, maturity can change facial features quite a bit.

But Keld would certainly notice. And he was a smart demon.

She hoped the hint would be enough. She dare not start the gambit herself. It would be too obvious, too transparent.

 _Keld, pay attention!_ But he was still looking around like a frightened rabbit. _He's not getting the hint. I'll have to be more direct._

{ Lindy: Keld, listen.. }

Then she suddenly stopped transmitting, for Sena had quickly turned her attention to the grappled goddess.

_Ugh! Sena had combat Valkyrie training! She can overhear me!_

She thought furiously for another moment.

_Wait, she can overhear me.._

The gambit might work after all.

{ Lindy: Keld, please, whatever you do, don't tell them. }

Lindy could see that Sena was paying attention.

_Yes, Keld look at my eyes. See it? Good. Smart boy._

Keld looked away for a moment. He was thinking. Then his eyes locked on hers. His face showed a mixture of emotions.

Fear.

And guilt.

It was perfect.

Sena couldn't resist the bait. "Oh my, what do we have here. Did you not know that I could eavesdrop on your little mental conversations?"

Keld reacted in surprise.

Sena saw it. "Keld, what is this secret that Lindy is begging you to hide? That woman, so pure, so perfect, so selfless. Does she have a secret? A dark secret?"

Lindy yelled, "Sena, shut up!"

She turned back. "Lindy, that's not like you. I remember you in school. I hated you. You were so pure and perfect. The daughter of the Daitenkaicho, without blemish or flaw. Totally pure. But I always knew that you were a hypocrite."

Meanwhile, Lindy noticed that Halval was utterly fascinated by the exchange. Her blind eyes sparkled with interest as the performance unfolded.

_Wildcard: Halval_

Lindy begged, "Please, don't."

"Don't what?"

"Just, please. I'll do anything. Thoriko can't hear us."

That set the hook. Sena approached her, with eyes gleaming. "Thrymr, release her."

Thrymr scowled. "You sure? She's stronger than she looks, boss."

"She won't harm us. She's a pacifist."

Thrymr let her go.

Sena was enjoying herself. She addressed her demon minions. "Did you know she was conning you the whole time she was down there? That she has never hurt a fly in her life? And she won't flee. She won't leave her sister behind ... "

Lindy waited for it.

"... or her lover."

Lindy's eyes grew wide. "No!"

"Yes. And that is why you will do exactly what I say, or I will let Thrymr here turn your lover into paste."

Keld rushed up to Lindy and touched her as he begged, "Lindy, no! Don't listen to them! Don't give in!"

Thrymr shoved him back.

Lindy took a quick peek at Thoriko. She was watching the silent pantomime with a puzzled expression.

_Uh-oh. Thoriko, don't blow this._

Sena was scornful. "Well, Well. How nice. And pathetic. You're all such hypocrites. No matter. I've won."

Lindy asked, "You won?"

"Yes. I have won. Don't you see? I have killed or captured all of the first class goddesses in Asgard. And now there is no Daitenkaicho anymore."

She twirled, revelling in her own vainglory. "Oh, wait, I guess that makes me the new Daitenkaicho. By default. Just like what happened to your mother. Fancy that."

Lindy frowned. "You need a spouse."

"Do I?"

"Ah, I see. You have already discarded Troubadour. So you don't intend to have a spouse at all. That means, yes, you are planning to re-write the Charter."

"Correct. My, you are as clever as they say."

"By yourself?"

"Well, originally that was my plan. But then I read the pesky fine print in the Charter: To dispose of the veto-spouse requires a rule change. And that needs a two-thirds majority vote of the first-classes, plus the assent of the Daitenkaicho."

"And you are the new Daitenkaicho."

"Yes."

"And I am your first-class vote on the Council. A vote of one in a quorum of one. Majority wins."

"Yes. Originally I planned to do the unitary vote myself, you see, but then I realized that the Daitenkaicho isn't actually a member of the Council. So I still need one other first class goddess. One who is, shall we say, malleable."

"And that is me."

"Yes."

Both Lindy and Sena knew that the Laws of Asgard were laid down by Odin and enforced by the Ultimate Force. Sena could not simply ignore them. Not completely. She had to work within Odin's rules, his framework, at least for now.

She had to obey the rules.

In order to destroy them.

Sena waved her arms, "All these tedious rules. They simply have to go."

Lindy asked, "Why?"

"Have you ever read Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, _Beyond Good and Evil_? I have. Do you know what he wrote? He wrote 'God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.' You see, Nietzsche understood power, what power really is. He called it _Wille zur Macht_ , the Will to Power. Power is granted to those who are bold enough to seize it. I am the _Übermensch_ , the Superman, well, the Superwoman in this case. I intend to kill all the gods and goddesses. And I will do so, because I have both the power and the will to make it happen."

Lindy shook her head sadly. "You have no idea what will and power really are."

"Oh?"

"Strength is a mother suckling her baby. Will is a father's ability to get up and work despite the pain so that his children can have a better life. Power is the realization that you were given free will and choice. The power of choice, the offer, to literally walk side-by-side with that which spoke the stars and heavens into existence, a being that can walk on suns, and to enter into a relationship with that being, and even call him 'Abba' ('Daddy'). That, my dear Sena, is power. Real power."

Sena harumphed, "Bah."

Lindy remained scowling. "You do know that Nietzsche went crazy, yes? He ran around in the streets of Turin babbling about being crucified. Then he was institutionalized and bedridden the last eleven years of his life."

"That was because he was only a mere mortal. His own ideas were too much for his puny mind to handle. I, on the other hand, am a goddess, and have no such mental limitations."

Lindy now ruefully realized that Sena was probably as bonkers as Nietzsche was.

Sena smiled. "You and your sister are all that's left." She looked at the mirror. "Thoriko, I am afraid that I must kill you. I know you are far too dangerous and stubborn to bless my coronation."

That did it. Lindy knew Sena was a real and immediate danger to her sister. Sena could easily kill Thoriko right now.

Lindy changed her eyes back. "I've had enough of this. Your philosophy is juvenile. And you bore me."

Sena turned back, "Excuse me? And say, what happened to your face?"

"Game over. I'm tired of bluffing. Especially when I have all the aces."

"Your aces?"

"Yes. My first class aces."

"One pacifist and one prisoner? Hardly two aces, don't you think?"

Lindy approached her slowly. "I don't have two aces."

Her face now showed real menace and power. Real power.

Sena stepped back.

Lindy's eyes gleamed in the sun.

"I have _eight_."

"Eight?"

"Eight." She looked up.

"And here come some of them now."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Challenge to readers:** Can you name all eight of the L1s that Lindy is referring to above? You have already met all of them. No time travel is involved, and all eight have spoken at least one line of dialog in this story. See how many of them you can guess before you read the next chapter.


	21. And Then There Were Eight

**Chapter 21: And Then There Were Eight**

Sena looked in the same direction as Lindy. Using her Valkyrie eyesight she could discern three figures on the skyline. One was a bit closer, while the other two were farther out. All three were approaching rapidly. "Halval! Cast darkness around us! Do it now!"

Halval remained motionless.

"Halval, hurry!"

The Dark Lady ignored Sena. Instead she turned toward Lindy and made a respectful bow. Then she said, "My lady, that was a magnificent performance."

Lindy made a small smile, "Thank you."

Sena was in shock. "Halval! What is this..? I command you! Create darkness immediately! Obey my order!"

Lindy said, "You understand?"

Halval continued to ignore Sena as she faced her Daimakaicho. "Yes. Thank you for the promotion, Daimakaicho Lindy-sama."

Halval made a small motion. In response Thrymr crossed her enormous arms, then she discretely took a step back.

Lindy then turned to Thoriko's husband. "Keld, please force-cage our little lunatic if you don't mind."

Keld quickly put his arms in a marksman stance, and before Sena could react she was surrounded by a glowing cube of energy.

Sena tried to blast her way out of her newfound prison. The cage held. Sena was apoplectic, "But.. but I am first class! Keld is only second!"

Lindy made a sigh. "You make this too easy."

Sena was getting panicky, "What just happened? What's going on?"

Lindy ignored her. Instead she placed her hand on Halval's shoulder and gently rotated her to face the others. "Everyone, my I have your attention please? I have an important announcement to make. It is with great pleasure that I can now introduce to you Niflheim's newest first-class demon: Halval." The gothic woman's blind eyes glittered with pride.

Lindy finally turned to Sena. "You see, dear Sena, while you and I were having our little chit-chat together I promoted Halval to first-class status. That's in the job description of the Daimakaicho, by the way. I did the same thing to Dorlaz. And I'm still technically the Daimakaicho of Niflheim, or did you forget that?"

Halval moved to stand in front of Lindy, turned, and made a deep and respectful bow towards the Daimakaicho. Then she spoke to her with reverence, "My great lady, I am so pleased to be given the opportunity observe your performance. That was such a magnificent display of deception and cunning. Truly, you are the worthy successor of the great Hild-sama."

Lindy accepted the flattery graciously, "Why, thank you again, my dear Halval."

Halval went on. Her face was earnest. "My lady, if you would allow me to try to persuade you to rejoin our side, to become the true Daimakaicho that I know you were destined to be, then I will gladly follow your orders unquestioningly for the next decade. I will do so even if you decline."

Lindy nodded, "Deal. But only if you give me a chance to persuade you as well."

Halval smiled, "But of course, my mistress. I look forward to it. I long to directly experience your skills of persuasion first-hand. I believe I will enjoy our conversations greatly."

"As will I."

Sena was getting upset at being ignored. She blasted her cage again to no avail. Meanwhile, the first figure landed and joined the group. It was Chrono. "Sorry I was late; I was in the infirmary. I heard the telepathic transmissions so I thought I'd better get over here as quick as I could."

Sena protested, "What? Chrono's dead! I overheard your mental conversation during the battle! She died from a mortar hit!"

Chrono gave her an annoyed look, "Do I look dead?"

Lindy said, "That was intentional. We never transmitted anything after we saved her."

Chrono shook her head as she looked at the former Valkyrie. "How did I ever get conned into recruiting such a complete loser?"

Lindy shrugged, "It happens sometimes. You get a bad apple now and then." Then she gave the Air Marshal a look of concern, "Chrono, you really ought to be in the infirmary. Losing a limb is no small thing."

Chrono waved the stump of her left arm. "What, this? It's just a flesh wound. I'm a combat Valkyrie. I hardly noticed it."

Lindy smiled at her bravado. "Well, as soon as we're done here I want you and Keld to both go back to the infirmary." Then she turned back to Sena. "In case you are having trouble keeping count, you are now facing three L1s."

Sena gave her a black look and said nothing.

Then Lindy checked Keld, "Is the cage holding okay?"

He was grinning. "No problem."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I say three? I meant four."

Sena protested, "Impossible, he's second class!"

The two new figures landed beside the rest of the group. Lindy noted the new arrivals with satisfaction. Then she turned back to her ersatz lover and said, "Keld, please enlighten our little Nietzsche wanna-be, will you?"

Keld bowed to the Daimakaicho, "With pleasure, my dear sister-in-law." He turned to face his prisoner. "Sena, you know that Lindy's main power is the ability to transfer energy from herself to others. The whole purpose of our little charade was to allow me to get close enough to Lindy to physically touch her. When I did that she transferred enough energy into me to temporarily become first class."

Lindy looked at the demon with the bandaged head, "Keld, you were supposed to kiss me..." She then batted her lovely eyelashes at him in mock flirtation. Keld's reaction was one of incredulity and annoyance. She then placed her hand over her heart in an exaggerated display of affection. "I mean, really now, it would have sold the deception _much_ better..."

Meanwhile, Keld noticed that Thoriko was glaring at both of them from behind the mirror. Lindy was clearly enjoying tweaking her sister.

Keld sighed, "Very funny. But I'd rather not die at the hands of an angry goddess whose primary attributes are wrath, lightning, and a great big freaking hammer."

Lindy shrugged, "Hmm. You might have a point."

Then there was a muffled 'whump' sound. Everybody turned.

It was coming from behind the mirror. On the other side of the glass Thoriko was wielding Mjölnir. There was a small crack in the mirror. She did another roundhouse strike against the glass and the crack grew slightly. Then the great hammer struck the same spot again. The crack split and grew like a spider web. On the fifth strike the glass exploded outward in a shower of crystal particles.

The niece of Thor staggered out, panting heavily. "Lindy, I saw your hand sign when you got grabbed so I waited like you wanted. But I've had enough! Now, will someone please tell me what in the name of Tarsus is going on here!?"

Lindy smiled at her prisoner, "And that, dear Sena, makes seven."

Then she looked at the rest of the group and said, "Oh, I am so sorry. I forgot to make some introductions. Please excuse my bad manners." She gestured at a slender girl who was wearing a long heavy black skirt with a white frock and a black pillbox hat. Her hair was dark purple, long, and flowing, and she had beautiful ruby colored eyes. Standing next to her was a tall quiet man who seemed to have an enormous reservoir of serenity and strength. Lindy said, "Please, allow me to introduce to you Yuko Amamiya. She is an angel first class and the former head of the new Goddess Help Line. And the distinguished gentleman standing next to her is Nigihayami Kohakunushi, also known as Haku. He is also an angel first class, formerly on detached duty on Earth."

The pair bowed. Then the tall man spoke in a soft monotone. It was almost a whisper. "My name is now Yuuki Nagato." The girl then said, "And my name is now Yuko Himura."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I stand corrected."

Thoriko scratched her head, "How did those two get here? They were both on Earth assignment."

The tall man stepped forward and spoke quietly again. "We ourselves are not sure of what happened. All we know is that we were somehow sent back here."

"But how?"

"We do not know. All the gates on Earth had disappeared. I tried to contact Asgard for instructions, but I found that all the phone lines were down. It seemed as if all contact was cut off. I tried to investigate the mystery, then I suddenly found myself standing in a strange cold location. After some exploration I determined that I was somehow teleported to the far northern limb of Asgard, deep in the land of the Frost Giants. It was there that I met with Himura-san. She had also been sent back. The Frost Giants had captured her and were holding her prisoner. I helped free her."

Yuko Himura bowed, "It was an unfortunate misunderstanding, I assure you."

He looked at her and nodded in agreement. "Then the two of us, being the only first-class angels operating on Earth at the time, decided that we should join together and travel back here to report to the Daitenkaicho for further instructions."

Then the girl spoke again, "On the way here we were attacked. It happened less than an hour ago. We were both.. disintegrated.. it was very distressing. But Nagato-san explained what was happening and he reassured me that everything would be all right."

The tall man again spoke quietly, "That is because, like Lindy and Thoriko, I too have high-level air elemental powers. I am not so high as to be able to do wind-shifts, but I was able to recognize that a wind-shift was being used against us. And then, after we were re-integrated, I decided to find the source of the wind-shifts, and so we came here. I trust we did the right thing?"

Lindy smiled, "Yes, you did."

Sena scowled, "That's seven. You said eight.."

Just then Skuld re-appeared.

".. sigh. Nevermind."

Lindy and Thoriko whooped for joy. The two girls then gang-tackled the Daitenkaicho. "Mother! Father!" In their enthusiasm the trio toppled over into the mud.

Skuld pleaded, "Ouch, careful! Your father and I have a huge headache..."

{ Keiichi: You promised me aspirin.. oy.. }

Lindy hugged her parents again, "I knew you'd figure out a solution to stop Hrungnir's little nasties from killing you."

Skuld sat up. "Yep. It was a real micro-engineering challenge. I haven't had that much fun in decades. Still, I couldn't have done it without your father. You need to thank him for saving me from becoming a _fricassee de cerveau_."

{ Keiichi: Aw, it was just a bug-hunt. I had fun too. }

Then Skuld looked around at the large group. "Wow, you two really called in the reserves on this one."

Thoriko said, "You need to thank Lindy for that."

"Ah, I see." She looked at her fairer daughter. "Lindy, you stopped Sena. Very well done." Then she looked around again. "But you called in every L1 there is. Why all this heavy firepower? Just to stop Sena? I'm sorry, but this seems like massive overkill. All you had to do was buy time until Keiichi and I returned. I could have taken care of her myself."

"Yes, Mother, I admit it was excessive. But I did for a very explicit purpose."

"Oh?" Her mother waited for the explanation.

"I did it as an demonstration exercise. For Sena."

Skuld stood up and started wiping the mud off herself. "Ah. Please carry on."

"Thank you." Lindy turned back to face her prisoner. "Sena, your philosophy is 'no rules': Might makes right, survival of the fittest, all that stuff, yes?"

"Bah. You were just stronger that me, that's all."

"No! I am not. I'm the weakest L1 here. But as you can see I have the loyalty of every L1 on the disc, all of them against you. Why do you think that is?"

Sena said nothing.

Lindy continued, "I'll answer the question for you. It is simple. The problem, my dear Sena, is that when you have no rules.."

Sena scowled.

".. then nobody trusts you."

Lindy crossed her arms in front of the imprisoned goddess. "Let me explain. You see, here in Asgard we operate under the rule of law. And we honor our contracts and agreements. On both sides. We have to. Otherwise everything falls apart. Rules are necessary for a society to function. Every highly successful society in Earth's history - from ancient Greece and Rome, up to modern Europe, North America, and the Pacific Rim - has at its core the fair and equal enforcement of its laws and the honoring of its contracts and agreements.

"The actual form of government doesn't matter much. Why do you think Russia is such an economic basket case while Singapore is so successful? Both are essentially authoritarian dictatorships. The difference is that one is a kleptocracy that uses selective enforcement of punitive laws to attack political enemies, that tears up business contracts, while the other is a society that upholds the law and honors its contracts and agreements. For example, Russia forced Gazprom to stop delivering natural gas and oil to Europe as a political weapon, so now Europe is scrambling to find other sources.

"When a country starts to selectively enforce laws for political ends, when it cannot be trusted to honor agreements, it poisons everything. This is why the United States was so successful during its first two centuries and why it is now starting to flounder. Did you know that the average US citizen now unwittingly violates at least three federal laws a day? A US federal prosecutor can indict you for anything if he wants. There are too many laws, selectively enforced, if they are enforced at all. The law becomes a weapon against political opponents. And when contracts get torn up or rewritten by the government? Then everything begins to fail. People start hoarding wealth instead of trying to create it. If everything boils down to favoritism and which politicians you can bribe or buy, when the politicians buy votes by forcibly redistributing wealth from the makers to the takers, then the makers simply stop making. Or they give up and become takers themselves. Then you have just another banana republic.

"You see, here in Asgard we follow the _law_. We honor our contracts and agreements. That is why you now see eight first class goddesses and demons standing together. Against you. Sure, we have our disagreements with each other. But we can still do business together. Trust is everything, don't you see? Lose that trust and it all falls apart. Society becomes a free-for-all of corruption and thievery, where everybody hides inside of walled compounds or lives in shantytowns and tin shacks. And sadly most of the human race on Earth lives in this state."

Sena sneered, "So, you think you and your friends have won? All because of your insufferable 'rules' that you force everyone to live by?"

"Yes. When you don't follow the rules, then nobody will play with you. That is why the eight of us are standing out here while you are in a cage."

"According do you I'm just a 'bad apple.'"

"Sadly, yes. And we will need to deal with you. I will talk to Thoriko and Mother about that. Perhaps you can just be sealed."

Skuld frowned and said, "Lindy, there's no question here. She has violated just about every law we have and caused several deaths. And she's unrepentant. We can't seal her. That only kicks the can down the road. Eventually someone or something will break the seal. And when that happens she'll be at it again."

Lindy knew it was Keiichi speaking because of the plural pronoun. That meant no veto. Sena was doomed. Lindy had a sad look. "Yes, you are probably right."

The Daitenkaicho returned her sad look with one of her own. "This is a capital crime, and she remains a threat. I can't take away her first-class powers because she has had them for too long and they have incubated." That was Skuld speaking. "Those powers are permanent now. I am sorry, but I can't give her leniency. She's too dangerous. The threat to Asgard is too great."

Lindy pleaded, "Please, Mother, let me try to find another solution."

"I don't see any other option. You think you have one?"

She hesitated. "I'm not sure yet. I need to think about it."

The red-haired goddess looked at them with contempt. "You are all so piteously wretched and weak. My punishment won't happen anyway."

Thoriko growled, "Sena, shut up. I've had it with your Evil Overlord act." She turned to Skuld and said, "Mother, give me the word and she's charcoal."

Skuld was just about to respond when Sena interjected, "You're forgetting something." She had a sly smile.

Just then, Lindy, Thoriko, Chrono, and Skuld all simultaneously detected a mental transmission. It was non-verbal.

The transmission came from Sena.

Thoriko was alarmed, "What was that? What did she just send?"

Chorno frowned, "Not sure. My guess is that she just sent a pre-arranged signal through the open gate to her remaining allies in Niflheim."

Sena's eyes flared in defiance. "You see, it only takes one bad apple..."

Skuld narrowed her eyes. "That was a military attack code. Used by demons."

"... to ruin the whole barrel."

There was an low-frequency rumble, almost below the level of audibility.

Halval glared at her former master. "How could you do that! Do you not know that you've just doomed yourself as well?"

Chrono looked up. "It's coming from inside the gate."

Thoriko jumped up. "We need to close it, fast!"

The rumble grew. Then there was a monstrous gutteral roar, more massive than any sound that any being in Asgard had heard since Ragnarök.

Skuld stood. "No, do not close the gate. It will just force its way through anyway and destroy the portal."

Lindy approached Sena's cage, her face changing from light-hearted joviality back to one of menace and disdain. "Sena, you are pathetic."

Sena made a nasty smile. "Like you said, it just takes one bad apple."

"If you can't win then nobody else does either, eh?"

Chrono frowned, "This is a major treaty violation. It stays in its cage, never comes out."

Lindy was still staring down Sena, "As if that matters to someone like her. She operates with no rules whatsoever with a weapon of mass destruction in her hands. This is why you never let lawless countries like Iran or North Korea have nukes. In their hands such a weapon _will_ get used sooner or later. It's inevitable."

Sena's eyes were on fire. "And I have just used mine."

Thoriko approached the Daitenkaicho. "Mother, what do we do? We're all here. Perhaps a joint counter-attack by all of us?"

Thrymr said, "Count me out."

Skuld shook her head. She knew it was immune to all forms of magic, even that of The Destroyer.

"No. You can't stop it, ..."

She took a step towards the gate, which was plainly visible on the darkening horizon as it floated one kilometer above the surface. A red glow began to appear within it, growing in intensity.

"... because nobody can."

The great beast was approaching. It was a terrible monster of unlimited destructive power. One that could vary in size, growing up to 100km in length.

It had caused untold death and destruction during Ragnarök, more than all the other attackers combined.

Unstoppable. Indestructible.

Fenrir.

* * *

**A/N:**

There are actually ten L1s in this story. The other two are Takano and Gan. I didn't include them in Lindy's get-together because they are both Earth spirits that are bound to that world.


	22. The Flight of the Valkyries

**Chapter 22: The Flight of the Valkyries**

The deep red glow from inside the gate gradually brightened in intensity. From the round portal there emanated another monstrous roar that shook everything.

Skuld sent out an alert message. { Ere, Ex, Stringfellow! Code 21! Now! } She appended her own spatial coordinates to the mental transmission. She hoped there was enough time.

There was another great roar, then the ground began to vibrate with a continuous thrumming sound.

The last gate was located about five kilometers east and one kilometer up from where Skuld and the others stood. There was little time left, so Skuld leapt into the air and zoomed up towards the portal as fast as she could.

She arrived breathlessly in front of the portal. "Gate! Talk to me!"

A face materialized on the apex of its circumference. It was that of young girl with blond hair. She looked afraid. "Skuld, I'm really scared. I don't think I can stop it from coming through."

Skuld gently touched the child's anxious face to reassure her. "Then don't stop it. It's okay. We don't want you to get hurt." She left out the fact that it was the last gate remaining, which made her even more precious.

The gate looked at Skuld with frightened eyes. "What should I do? I can feel it moving inside me. It's huge!"

Skuld kept her voice soothing and encouraging. "Let it through. You'll do fine. Just try to open as wide as you can. Do you think you can dilate out to maybe 10 or 12 kilometers?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. I've never gone that wide before."

"Then just do the best you can. It's okay. I have faith in you. Don't try to stop it from coming out. If it stretches your orifice, just let it out. If it gets stuck, just push."

"Push?"

"Yeah, just push real hard. You know, like you're sitting on the toilet."

Keiichi pictured the image in his mind as he tried to suppress a giggle.

{ Skuld: Stifle it. }

{ Keiichi: Couldn't help it, sorry. }

Skuld said, "I know you can do it. I believe in you."

"Okay, I'll try."

Keiichi was impressed with his wife's gentle encouragement of the poor gate. { Skuld, that was very nice. I couldn't have done it better myself. But you need to get her elevated. And fast! }

The Daitenkaicho looked directly into the eyes of the frightened girl. "Ok, now please listen carefully. I want you to gain as much altitude as possible. Go up. You need to go up really high so you can dilate safely. Do it as fast as you can."

The gate's face showed brave determination. "Okay, here I go. Wish me luck!" The portal then began to move upwards at an increasing rate of speed. Skuld waved it goodbye. Then she quickly turned around and zoomed back to the rest of the group.

_I hope she survives. She's the last one._

* * *

There was another inhuman roar. Thoriko took a step back, "What does it look like?"

Lindy stood alongside her sister and gazed up towards the widening gate. "I saw it once. In Niflheim they kept it locked away in some kind of fancy transdimensional containment system way down in the deep levels. Hrungnir took me on a tour down there once. She was quite proud of that little prison."

It was because Hrungnir had designed the cage herself. It was one of the few times was able to show up her boss. "Within the cage most of the beast is invisible, hidden in the higher dimensions. When it's dormant it basically looks like a wolf, only a few dozen meters long. But when it wakes up it transforms and becomes hideous. I've never seen it in that form. But I did ask Hrungnir how to stop the bloody thing if it ever got loose again."

Thoriko knew that if anyone knew how it to stop that terrible monster, it would be its caretaker. Thoriko waited for Lindy to continue. Finally she asked her sister, "Well, what did Hrungnir say? How do they stop that thing?"

Lindy said, "She just laughed at me."

"Great."

Skuld landed next to them. She spoke somewhat breathlessly, "Okay, I told the gate to move up ASAP. It's gaining altitude."

She was panting. She bent over and wheezed, "Phew. I must be getting old."

{ Keiichi: Not you! }

{ Skuld: I hate you so much. }

{ Keiichi: Kisses. }

She ignored him. Instead she said, "We still need a way to keep that thing distracted when it appears. Is the item I asked for here yet?"

Lindy showed it. "Yes, it just arrived."

Chrono spoke up. "Ere and Ex report they are getting things ready in the CnC." The 'CnC' was the command and control center for the main Yggdrasil Mark II supercomputer complex, located in an underground bunker next to main trunk of the great tree.

Skuld rubbed her hands together in excited anticipation. "Yes! I've waited for this for so long. Heh, heh."

She now knew that all of her strategic planning, all her detailed engineering design work, all that construction and building activity on the western horizon that started oh so many years ago, had finally come to fruition. She turned her head to the west and proudly gazed upon the culmination of the greatest engineering project in her life, an endeavor that had taken almost 80 years to construct. It surpassed Skuld's wildest dreams as a young girl.

It was majestic. And even now it was still not quite finished.

The crown of the great tree Yggdrasil soared high into the sky. Its tremendous branches reached clear out of the atmosphere. And high up in those branches was an enormous artifact that was about 12 kilometers in height, a great folded cylindrical device that tapered slightly near the base, with complex geometric manifolds stenciled on its curvilinear surface. The whole massive structure was attached to an intricate gimbal mechanism that was installed in the highest branches of the World Tree.

It was the culmination of the most magnificent engineering project in the history of Asgard.

It was a weapon.

Fenrir was immune to magic. No magic spell nor any magic weapon could harm that monster.

But this weapon could.

After all, it was the greatest non-magical weapon in history. The fact that it was originally created by mere mortals only made it even more remarkable.

It was originally captured by Skuld's mother as a war trophy long ago. Skuld had later replaced its original power source with a special power crystal that her mother had stolen during their joint infiltration op into Hell when she was but a little girl.

Skuld then redesigned the weapon for better efficiency and compactness, with a faster recharge rate and a better focuser for use against point targets. She had spent decades working on the redesign, tinkering with it, making it better, improving it, over and over.

And it was for that reason that it was still not yet finished even now, even after 80 years. The weapon was not currently functional because she had recently dismantled the focuser to realign the collimators (yet again). That project was still in progress. And because the weapon was never finished it had never even been tested in its current form. It had never been fired.

But there was no time left for such niceties. Another gutteral roar thundered through the hills.

Skuld stopped her private reverie. She sighed. It was because she was about to order to someone to their death.

{ Keiichi: Hurry, just do it. } There was no time for further reflection.

Skuld knew what needed to be done. She said the words she so dreaded to speak: "I need a volunteer for a suicide mission."

Everyone looked at her.

"I need someone to lead Fenrir as far away from here as possible. There's no chance of survival."

There was a pause. And then, to their credit, all three of the combat Valkyries that were present immediately took one step forward.

"I'll do it." "Me." "I'll volunteer." Those words were spoken by Chrono, Lindy, and Thoriko, respectively.

All three looked at each other.

Thoriko said, "Let's all draw straws."

Chrono replied, "No. It's me."

"But.."

Chrono's eyes were fierce. "Look, this is my _job_. I am a combat Valkyrie. This is my purpose. This is what I was born for."

Lindy spoke softly, "Chrono, we're all Valkyries here."

"Yes, but I am the leader of the Fighting Wings, so when it comes to handing out the combat assignments it is my duty to choose who goes out. And I'm assigning this mission to myself. I'm the Air Marshal so I outrank you. I'm doing the mission. I've decided. No arguments."

Lindy looked at her mother. Skuld only said, "Chrono is right. The Daitenkaicho only assigns the military objective. The Air Marshal has the sole and final authority regarding the method she chooses to achieve that objective."

Skuld left unsaid that she would have overruled Chrono and insisted on going herself. But the weapon was still not fully operational, and she knew it would take all her engineering skills if the rest of them were going to have a chance to survive.

Chrono made a small smile. "Besides, I fought it once before. I know how it moves. Skuld, you want me to get it to chase me, right?"

"Yes, lead it as far away from here as possible. Try to make it go east about 1000km out." Skuld knew that direction led towards the Red Desert, an unpopulated wasteland.

"Roger."

Then Skuld said, "Altitude is critical too. 100km minimum." That was because the weapon was located that far up the Great Tree, so high it rose clear out of the atmosphere. It was designed that way on purpose. She knew that the beam must never touch the atmosphere of Asgard under any circumstances. The weapon had to be installed above the atmosphere to avoid scorching thousands of kilometers of the surface due to atmospheric ablation. Otherwise it would end up killing everything between Yggdrasil's trunk and the target.

"Chrono, you need to buy us much time as you can. It will take me several minutes to get it working and charge up the capacitors."

"I'll try. But you know Fenrir has that nasty power beam. I don't know if I can dodge it for very long." Skuld nodded. She had seen it 80 years ago, a powerful beam that emanated from the great beast's muzzle. During Ragnarök that terrible weapon had killed half the Fighting Wings in less than 60 seconds.

Skuld herself had finally defeated the monster during that battle. She did it by ramming the great god-ship, V'ger, right into its huge maw. During the ship's lumbering suicide run the wolf's power beam had blown away the front third of the great ship as it approached. The beam had killed whatever glimmer of consciousness it had remaining, but its dead hulk had sufficient momentum to continue on to final impact. The resulting explosion had blasted the monster's jaw entirely away. The injured beast had then fled, howling in great pain.

Hrungnir had later located and recovered the injured beast, now only a dozen meters long as it slept fitfully in its dormant regenerative state. She barely had time to place it back inside its secure transdimemsional cage before it awoke again.

Skuld snapped her fingers. In response, a broom that was leaning inconspicuously nearby suddenly leapt into her hand.

Chrono saw it and smiled, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Take it." She handed it to the Air Marshal. "Stringfellow is the most agile flying broom in Heaven. It should help buy you the time we need."

Chrono lovingly stroked the wooden broom. It was Belldandy's favorite. "Are you ready for the ride of your life?"

The broom spoke, "I am ready. I will give you a glorious ride. It will be a fitting end for me."

"You said it. This will be one for the history books." Her eyes were glittering with excitement.

Halval then whispered something to Lindy, whose eyes widened in response. Halval's mistress turned and gave her a thoughtful look, then nodded.

Then Lindy approached and hugged the one-armed Valkyrie. She said something to Chrono that Thoriko did not quite hear.

The demon then quietly approached Chrono, who was still conferring with Lindy. Then Thoriko joined in. The four of them were animatedly buzzing back and forth. Then Thoriko saw Halval's hands revealed for the first time. Her fingers were long and graceful, with each hand covered by an elegant white glove that was anchored with a jeweled wrist strap.

Skuld could not hear their discussion. She frowned to herself. The Daitenkaicho did some quick mental calculations. The area of effect would need to be kilometers wide, and she doubted that even a first class demon could create a large enough field to have any real impact during the battle. She felt compelled to speak up. "Halval, please understand that I cannot allow your mistress to put you under any sort of obligation here, regardless of any agreement or promise you might have made with Lindy. No one can order you to do anything you don't want to."

Chrono took a step towards Skuld. "Actually, someone can."

"Who?"

"Me."

"What?"

The Dark Lady said, "I am under no compulsion here."

Chrono said, "True. She's a volunteer. I decided I needed a second Valkyrie for this mission. I just talked with all of them, and she stepped forward."

Skuld frowned again. "Halval is not a Valkyrie."

Chrono grinned, "Actually as of this minute she is. I just inducted her."

Halval bowed before the Daitenkaicho. "I am honored to have been selected to enlist in the exalted ranks of Heaven's most elite military attack force."

{ Keiichi: Hey, I like it. Her being L1 makes her the Fighting Wings' new second-in-command. It sets a nice precedent. }

{ Skuld: Hoo boy. The natives are going to have a cow. }

{ Keiichi: Good. Let them. }

And with that the Daitenkaicho gave her blessings to the Air Marshal and her new lieutenant commander. She said, " _Vaya con dios_."

Chrono was about to give the rest of her friends their goodbyes when they were interrupted by another apocalyptic roar. Skuld yelled, "Go!"

Chrono jumped on Stringfellow with Halval holding her back. Together they zoomed up toward the rising gate with astonishing speed. The pair was soon a small dot high in the eastern sky.

Skuld dolefully informed the rest of them, "They won't make it. I'm sorry." The problem was not the monster. The problem was the weapon. Skuld had previously intensified its original power by a factor of ten. She knew that a 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 watt laser beam would not leave anything behind.

"I suggest that the rest of you take cover." Skuld then zoomed towards the Great Tree.

Thoriko said, "You heard her. There's a bunker not far from here. We should go there."

Lindy looked around, "We'll try to gather as many civilians as we can."

* * *

The pair of Valkyries flew up and up. Halval's four-wing black cloak fluttered open like a large dark moth.

Then Chrono quickly asked Stringfellow, "Hey, can you fly in the dark?"

"Of course, my lady. I have no eyes."

Chrono grinned. This might actually work.

The broom continued to zoom up. She saw that the gate was dilated out at perhaps 5-8 km. The orifice had rotated and was facing due east, away from the Great Tree.

And then there was a tremendous explosion.

* * *

The concussive wave knocked everyone to the ground. Thoriko got up and pulled Lindy out of the mud. Nagato helped up Himura.

Thoriko checked on her husband, who was sitting up. "Keld, dear, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He touched his bandaged head. "Just a little headache."

"I'll take you back to the infirmary as soon as the coast is clear." Then she looked around. "Wait, where did Sena go?"

Keld became alarmed. "Crap! I lost my concentration." The force cage had collapsed. Sena was gone.

"We have to find her!"

Lindy said, "Relax, dear sister. Sena can't do any more damage than she already has. We can deal with her later."

Then there was another huge blast above their heads.

Thoriko yelled, "Everybody run! Go to the bunker!"

Then she looked up.

She froze.

It was because she saw it.

It was still emerging.

Massive. Black. It was an eldritch abomination beyond the most fevered nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft.

The beast was having difficulty passing through the gate. It forced the orifice open wider. The poor gate was at its mercy. Thoriko could see it emerge as a seemingly never-ending series of black tentacles and other unidentifiable appendages.

It looked more like some kind of arthropod than any kind of mammal. From her angle, Thoriko could not see the head of the beast. That was probably fortunate. She did see innumerable glistening and undulating tentacles along the shaft of the main body, each ending in some kind of snake head.

The beast started to twist and turn as it forced its way through the gate opening.

* * *

Stringfellow had just passed the plane of the gate opening and was moving alongside the body of the great beast. Several snake heads snapped at them, but the agile broom was able to dodge them.

Halval marveled at the sight. "It is so beautiful, so magnificent!" Chrono did a mental facepalm. She would have done a real one but she only had the one hand. She was holding on to Stringfellow for dear life.

Then the Dark Lady asked her commanding officer a question. "But I do not understand something. The beast has the head of a wolf, but the body is that of the Midgard Serpent. How can that be?" She was referring to the Jörmungand, the World Serpent.

Chrono said, "It is both."

"Ah. Of course."

It was because each form, be it wolf or serpent, was but one manifestation of the same creature. Only now was its entire form fully revealed, when all portions of its great body were projected into the physical world at the same time. Chrono knew this not only because she had seen it once before during Ragnarök, but also because Skuld and her family had also fought the creature once before and had told her about it.

Many years ago, Belldandy, Urd, Skuld and Skuld's mother had all confronted the creature on Earth. It was when the beast's mind had been taken over by a malevolent mind-possessing entity called the Lord of Terror, a software program that was the living manifestation of a basic inherent flaw in the Yggdrasil supercomputer.

It was because, like every complex system, Yggdrasil contained a flaw that was fundamental to its design. That such a flaw must exist was proven long ago by the human mathematician Kurt Gödel in his famous Incompleteness Theorem (1931), where he demonstrated that every sufficiently complex logical system must be, by its own necessity, either incomplete or inconsistent.

Every sufficiently large logical system contained such a flaw. All of them, be it HAL-9000, _The Matrix_ , or Yggdrasil, they had all this flaw. Now, the particular manifestation of the flaw could vary considerably, but it was always present in some form, be it insanity (HAL-9000), Neo ( _The Matrix_ ), or The Lord of Terror (Yggdrasil). The flaw was always there.

Yggdradil's flaw was its Ultimate Destruction Program. For this was the true identity of the Lord of Terror. It was a 'reboot' function that could cause Yggdrasil to reset and destroy everything.

In an attempt to execute its primary function, the Lord of Terror had taken over Fenrir/Midgard. Skuld's entire family - including her future adoptive mother - had fought the beast to prevent the Lord of Terror from executing its program on that fateful day. Working together, they were able to finally dispel the beast and send it hurtling back into the abyss before the Lord of Terror could fully manifest the creature in its final 100km form.

The pair of Valkyries continued to fly past its huge snake-ridden body. Soon they finally reached the front.

Chrono deftly maneuvered the broom directly in front of the huge monster. The head was like that of a wolf, hideous and deformed, furless and glistening, like the alien-possessed sled dogs in John Carpenter's film _The Thing_ (1982).

Chrono whacked the pestilent head right on the snout with a percussive blast. "C'mon, you ugly cur! Follow me!"

It reacted.

It fired its power beam directly at them at point blank range.

Stringfellow tried to dodge, but at this distance it was impossible to avoid.

This was the beam that had killed 40 Valkyries in less than 60 seconds.

It hit them directly.

Far below, Thoriko saw it happen. She shielded her eyes from the blast.

"CHRONO!"

She quickly blinked away the eye spots, then she looked up again.

They were gone.

* * *

**A/N Update:**

Sorry for the delay. I got sandbagged by a huge project, the biggest I've ever tackled (over 300,000 lines of C++ and JavaScript). My little toy is actually up and running now. I just have to do some regression testing on the operating systems (Windows Server 2003, Server 2008, Server 2012, XP, Vista, Win7, Win8, Win8.1) and it's released. Yay!

During this project I'm taking small breaks to unwind, where I've been going back and tweaking earlier chapters in AR a bit. I did some fix-ups in chapters 6, 7 and 17, some plot, some gaffes. For example, in chapter 17 I had Skuld turning into a teenager, then a full grown woman, then back to a teenager again. Oops. I updated the geometry of Asgard's disc to create two arctic poles with a plausible thermocline that actually works given the weird geometry (I had to retcon it because I forgot to include the Frost Giants), and I tweaked the cosmological argument a bit. And somebody asked me why didn't K+S go through the Judgment Gate. Fixed and answered in chapter 6. I also added some significant new scenes in chapter 7, which is a very delicate chapter, as it needed more lead-in before the plunge.

And, throughout I've been slowly dialing in on the most important character in the story, Belldandy, (who we still haven't seen yet except in remembrances and flashbacks), using an approach which I hinted at in my review of _Divinity's Prayer_ by Sombereyes.

Anyway, Chapter 24 is going to be Skuld's finest hour. She will finally get to say a line of dialog that she's been dying to say for almost a century. And the chapter ends with a little tableaux that is my favorite of all my stories to date. So click on 'Follow Story' to get notified when it comes out. And thank you again for reading.

-HuuskerDu


	23. To See The Light

**Chapter 23: To See The Light**

**A/N:** While reading the next two chapters I recommend that you play your favorite exciting music for a chase scene. Or you can play one of these suggested YouTube OSTs: [Epic Score - Epic Action Adventure Vol. 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfV3duWn2b0&list=PL567829748E64A877) [playlist] by Superminion, [Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back Soundtrack - 10. The Asteroid Field ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKa7VzA16Vg) by jediking12 (4:07), or [Call of Duty 2 Modern Warfare OST (Full)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XtC7eP_e7g) (Hans Zimmer) by JohnnieGamer69 (52:41).

* * *

_To dream the impossible dream_

_To fight the unbeatable foe_

Fenrir's power beam hit them directly. Stringfellow could not dodge it.

Chrono pulled up hard on Stringfellow's neck. She re-oriented the broom at a perpendicular angle to the deadly blast. Then she leaned in as the broom accelerated to near supersonic speed to escape the cone of death.

She was blind of course. But that didn't matter. She knew which way was up.

And up was where she wanted Fenrir to go.

Chrono had no time to check the status of her passenger. She started an erratic upward corkscrew manuever to stay out of the line of fire. She could not see so she had to assume the beam was still hitting them. Then, after several gyrations, she guessed they were finally out of the path of the beam. She finally spoke to her passenger, "You can turn off the darkness effect now."

The world of light returned. Chrono looked down and saw that she was correct in her assumption. The great wolf was now several kilometers below them, having long since ended its blast. The terrible monster was slowly beginning to bend in a lumbering turn upwards.

They had survived somehow. As she flew up she rejoiced in that knowledge, flying ever higher in the sky as her heart was filled with delirious rapture.

_Yes! You smelly mutt, keep following me!_

Then she burst out laughing with pure joy as she flung her broom higher still, flying up and east, far away from the setting sun. She continued to fly up and up, higher and higher. She joined the topmost cirrostratus clouds, wheeling and soaring as she rose even higher still into the stratosphere. She flew higher than any bird or eagle in all recorded history.

Then Chrono took a chance and glanced behind her. Halval was obviously in some kind of distress. She espied a small trickle of blood at the edge of her passenger's mouth. "You okay? Can you take another hit?"

"No."

Halval leaned heavily against her commander. Then the gothic lady started to slide sideways.

"Halval! I only have one arm! I can't hold you!"

The Dark Lady fought to remain conscious. "I will try to stay awake.."

"How badly are you hurt?"

"Uh.."

"Talk to me!" Chrono wasn't about to berate her subordinate for failing to provide a concise injury status report. After all, the demon had no combat training. Chrono needed to know if Halval could continue to hold on, for if not then the Air Marshal had to change tactics, and quickly. But Halval had good combat instincts and understood the urgency of Chrono's request for information.

"I believe I can remain conscious. The wounds are not fatal. I can absorb a second strike and protect you, but it will kill me."

Chrono nodded. "Understood."

"And I feel.. wonderful."

"Eh?"

"I am feeling, for want of a better description, very intoxicated."

Of course, the huge power hit. Chrono guessed that her passenger was now probably feeling as high as a kite.

"Ok. Just enjoy the ride. And hold on!"

"I will. I have never felt this way before. It is exhilarating." Then she snuggled closer to her commander. "If you save me I will be in your debt." She gripped her commander tightly.

"Hey! Get your hands off my.." But Chrono had no time to give her subordinate a lecture about inappropriate fraternization. Instead she pulled the broom's neck hard. Stringfellow began a tight turn. It looped their trajectory back on itself in a wild dive towards the enemy.

Chrono had seen Fenrir in battle once before. Its sheer bulk meant that it could not turn quickly. So the game was to fly in erratic concentric helical loops about its massive head, getting it to follow her, gradually leading it east and up. And she knew she had to do it without falling into the path of the deadly beam. And without being distracted by the demon whose hands were clamped tightly on her anatomy. _Skuld, you owe me._

There was another world-shattering roar. They both looked down at their pursuer.

Halval then leaned her head on Chrono's shoulder and whispered dreamily, "That is the most beautiful creature in the world, don't you think?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." She took another quick glance behind and saw that Halval's face was one of pure enrapturement. _Skuld, if I survive this I want a pay raise._

And so the duo continued their deadly dance with the monster.

* * *

Skuld flew at high speed towards the Yggradsil Mark II supercomputer facility on the western horizon. This was going to be close.

To save time she telepathically transmitted her orders ahead of her to the sysadmins on duty. { Skuld: Ere, Ex, start ramping up the capacitors. Don't worry about the collimators or the targeting apparatus. That's my problem to fix. And get the dish unfolded! }

She knew her subordinates could not transmit back. She had faith that they heard her. They knew their jobs. Still, it was a pity that the weapon wasn't ready. But that wasn't their fault.

Skuld began to run through a quick mental checklist of the minimum components that she had to get operational somehow if they were to have any hope of firing the weapon in time. Or hitting anything for that matter. That was because the whole targeting subsystem was hopelessly offline. It was stripped down to its individual components. That was her fault. She had been tinkering with it just a couple days ago.

{ Keiichi: You know, you could have easily finished that thing at least 20 years ago. But noooo, you had to keep on messing with it.. }

{ Skuld: I know. }

{ Keiich: Tweaking it, adjusting it.. }

{ Skuld: I said I know. }

{ Keiichi: Futzing with it.. }

{ Skuld: I know! }

{ Keiichi: If you get us all killed because you couldn't stop playing around with your favorite toy.. }

{ Skuld: Hey, you encouraged me! You said I needed more play time away from my desk! }

{ Keiichi: Sigh, yeah I did. Well then, it's a good thing you have an expert repair mechanic sitting inside your head. }

{ Skuld: Oh, don't make me laugh. Like you know anything about advanced photonics or demon power crystallography. }

{ Keiichi: Those systems are all working. The busted stuff is all mechanical: the power collimators that need to be aligned, the Adamite gimbal ball-bearings that need to be re-inserted, and then you have to somehow aim the thing, am I right? }

{ Skuld: Uh, yeah, that's basically it. }

{ Keiichi: Like I said, you need a mechanic. A _racing_ mechanic. One who can jury-rig fast repairs, like a pit-stop crew. }

{ Skuld: Okay, okay! If you're offering to help I accept. Let's work together on this one. }

{ Keiichi: Smart girl. Hey, do you know, this is the third time I helped save your ass today? First I saved your kingdom, then I saved your brain, and now I save.. }

{ Skuld: If I might interrupt your little soliloquy for a moment I would like to state for the record that I hate you. }

{ Keiichi: Noted. Let's get to business. Run through that checklist one more time for me... }

{ Skuld: Okay, double-check me this time. First, we gotta figure out a way to align those stupid collimators - no time set up the laser guide-finders. Now here's my idea: We use some small mirrors and the setting sun to line up the guide angles.. }

{ Keiichi: Hey.. that would work! Skuld, you're a genius. }

{ Skuld: 'bout time I got some respect around here. Now help me with some ideas for how to speed up fitting the gimbal bearings... }

Skuld's eyes glittered as she flew.

* * *

Thoriko, Lindy, and the others had gathered as many civilians into the bunker as they could. The bunker was a refurbished fallout shelter that pre-dated the War. Most of the occupants were now gathered together down in the lower levels.

Thoriko peered out of the narrow view slit in the top level of the facility. She was frustrated. "Dang it, I can't see anything out there." The view slit looked out towards the west so all she could see was the tree, not Fenrir.

She pulled away and faced her sister. She was the only other person who remained topside. "Lindy, we should be doing something out there. Chrono's dead. Mother said we need to lead that monster away."

Lindy held her sister's gauntleted arm. "No, Chrono's alive. I can feel it."

"You sure?"

Lindy concentrated. "Yes. She's okay."

Thoriko was relieved. "Thank goodness. Halval must have protected them from that beam blast. Please remind me to thank our new first-class Valkyrie when they get back. Say, is she okay too?"

Lindy tilted her head. "Humm.. let me check. That's odd. Halval is feeling completely euphoric. Oh dear.."

Thoriko grinned. "Hah! She's buzzed! That beam hit on her was just like getting one of your power hits, eh? That's pretty funny."

Lindy wasn't smiling. "No. This isn't good."

"What's the matter? It worked! She annihilated the beam, right? That was a good test. It means they might have a fighting chance when Mother fires the superlaser."

Lindy was getting anxious. "No, don't you see? We were wrong. Halval won't survive another hit from Fenrir, and certainly not from Mother's little toy!"

Thoriko was incredulous. "But that was the whole plan.. she was supposed to shield Chrono from the superlaser! She can annihilate the photons, right? That's her main ability! A first class photon eater! That's the whole idea!"

Lindy faced her sister. "Wrong, don't you see? All that energy has to go somewhere. You can't just violate the first law of thermodynamics like that. She didn't annihilate the photons, she _absorbed_ them. Into herself."

"But.. but.. then why did she volunteer to go out with Chrono if she couldn't protect.."

"She didn't know. She didn't understand how her power worked. She was born with it. She simply assumed she could annihilate photons, and that's what she told us. But she was wrong about how it worked. Previously she only got hit with ambient light. But now she's getting hit with orders of magnitude more illumination than she's ever experienced in her life."

"But that means.."

Lindy looked at her sister. "Mother was right."

Thoriko stared.

"If that superlaser fires they will be incinerated."

* * *

Chrono pulled Stringfellow back for another pass over the monster's massive snout.

The tactic was working. Fenrir was chasing the annoying broom to try to swat it with its power beam. But Stringfellow was too fast and too close for the massive head to track it. And in doing so the Great Wolf was being coaxed to move in the direction that Chrono had intended: up and east.

Then the creature emitted a massive roar in its frustration.

Halval said matter-of-factly, "Commander, I perceive it is upset that it has not been able to kill us yet."

Chrono was incredulous. "You think!?" She continued to wheel and soar in erratic loops around her enemy's colossal head.

This went on for another five minutes as the infuriated roars continued.

Then the beast stopped moving and went silent. After a moment it emitted a different sound, a strange sound, almost like a massive guttural burp.

Halval stiffened. "Something is happening.."

Chrono tried to glance back at her charge, "More specific!" Her second-in-command was still not well versed in giving concise and accurate intel in battle. But she saw Halval's black eyes widen. Her keen sonar must have spotted something.

Chrono faced forward again and used her Valkyrie eyesight to try to discern whatever it was that had enthralled the blind demon.

Then she saw it.

_Oh crap!_

"Commander, they are so beautiful..."

The creature was festooned with thousands of glistening tentacles. Each tentacle ended in a snapping snake head. The Midgard Serpent.

What had fascinated Halval was that the snakes were now detaching from the main mass.

_Crap! Crap! Crap!_

The snakes were launching themselves like Vipers from the _Battlestar Galactica._ Each one zoomed towards them at high speed. Soon there were dozens in flight.

Then hundreds.

Then thousands.

_Argh! Nobody told me they could do that!_

"Stringfellow! Evasive!"

"Yes, my lady. Please hold on tight."

"No [bleep]! Halval hang on!" The demon used both hands to grapple her the same as before.

The broom maneuvered wildly. Soon it was enveloped in writhing cloud of twisting and snapping snakes. Each snake had a jaw large enough to cut them in half.

Stringfellow twisted, whirled, dived and weaved. The wild gyrations left the snakes in a mass of confusion. Some collided with each other and fell from the sky.

But there were still far too many to evade. One of them would eventually get lucky. At some point a pair of jaws would snap the broom's riders in half, and it would all be over.

Chrono realized it was only a matter of time. _Skuld, I did my best. The rest is up to you._

* * *

Skuld was getting desperate. She sent out an urgent summons. { Nagato! Thrymr! I need you! Come to the Tree! The manifold! }

{ Keiichi: You think they heard you? }

{ Skuld: Pretty sure they did. But whether they respond in time.. }

{ Keiichi: This is going to be awfully close. }

{ Skuld: Too close. }

{ Keiichi: Hey, it's what makes life interesting. }

{ Skuld: Yeah, tell me about it. }

{ Keiichi: You do realize that this is all your fault.. just because you never learned to put away your toys.. }

{ Skuld: I said I know! Shut up! }

{ Keiichi: Sorry. Let's just work the problem. }

{ Skuld: Ugh, yeah, okay. But I don't see a way In time. The repairs will take too long. It's hopeless. }

{ Keiichi: No! Just concentrate. I'm here with you, let's work it together. }

{ Skuld: You're right, sorry. I trust you. }

{ Keiichi: Good. We'll solve this somehow. }

{ Skuld: Yes, I have faith in you. Lead on, dearest husband. }

And so he did.

* * *

Stringfellow continued to weave and twist within the mass of flying snakes. Chrono knew it was only a matter of time.

Then something unexpected happened. Several of the nearer snakes exploded in flame. Then they fell from the sky. What?

It was as if some kind of laser beam had struck them.

But from where? Chrono whirled around to try to find the source of the beam. Where was it coming from?

Then she saw that Halval was smiling blissfully. "Halval, did you just..?"

"Apparently my eyes are now photonic weapons. Interesting."

Chrono grinned like an idiot. She understood. Every angel or demon that became elevated to first-class status earned a new and distinct power. And that new power was always absolutely unique to that first-class entity.

Halval absorbed photonic energy. This was the special ability that she was born with.

But now as a new first-class demon she had gained a new ability: She could shoot that same energy with her eyes.

Chrono whooped for joy like a delighted child. _Halval's eyes are frickin' laser beams!_

She yelled, "Take point! Open a hole for us!"

And Halval did. Her laser eyes burned a path through the mass of snakes. It worked. The flying broom exploded out of the cloud of snapping serpents. Chrono continued to wheel and soar, taking care to keep out of the range of the monster's deadly muzzle beam.

And again the monster roared in frustration and moved towards them.

* * *

_20 minutes later_

{ Chrono: It's working! That rotten wolf is almost in position.. }

They were now beyond the atmosphere. Audible communication was no longer possible. Chrono was using telepathy. Halval, now being a first class Valkyrie herself, was able to respond in kind.

{ Halval: Yes, commander. We are nearly at sufficient altitude. Skuld should be able to use the weapon soon. }

She meant that they were reaching the minimum 100km height to clear the atmosphere so that Skuld's fearsome toy could finally be fired without scorching the atmosphere.

{ Chrono: Yep, and we're pretty far out. Skuld wanted a 1000km minimum safe distance, and I think we're about there. } Halval looked below and saw an endless expanse of red sand far below. It was the great Red Desert, desolate and uninhabited.

And then Halval felt it. It was building, the light.

It was growing, a near-infinity of light. She felt it in her soul. She moved her hands to create darkness but it was hopeless. The light was far too strong. She made a silent scream as the light pierced her veil.

And within that collapsing bubble of darkness, as she became bathed in that endless light, as the veil that was her primary ability was shredded and destroyed, a miraculous event had happened. For it was in that moment, and for the very first time and very last time in her short life, that a miracle occurred:

Halval could _see_.

She saw it, the light. She saw the near-infinite light. And in that final moment the blind woman marveled in utter astonishment at what her eyes finally revealed to her. And in that light she knew wonder and joy. _So this is the light that I have heard so much about. The Light of Creation. I am glad to finally glimpse it before we leave this universe._

And so she hugged her commanding officer around the waist, grabbing her wrists together as tightly as she could. They were bathed in a near-infinity of dazzling light.

The light was taking them to pieces, killing them.

And so they left the universe together.

* * *

**A/N:**

The above lyrics are excerpted from the song _Impossible Dream_ from the play _The Man of La Mancha_ as sung by Jim Nabors. See the YouTube video [Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) Impossible Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqJ2jYumJJo) by aesmart (4:45). This is by far the best rendition of the song on the web. I am fairly certain that the band seen playing in background is the actual United States Marine Corps band.

There is an interesting shot of several minority and female marines and sailors standing with Sgt. Carter as they watched the performance. That was very unusual for a 1960s TV show.

I picked the song because many of the lyrics are apropo to this tale: _To be willing to march into Hell for the Heavenly cause._ Lindy. _To fight the unbeatable foe._ Fenrir. _No matter how hopeless_. Skuld. _No matter how far._ Belldandy. _To fight for the right._ Keiichi. _To reach the unreachable star._ You'll see...

-HuuskerDu


	24. The House of Morisato

**Chapter 24: The House of Morisato**

_To dream the impossible dream_

_To reach the unreachable star_

_Though you know it's impossibly high_

_To live with your heart striving upward,_

_To reach the unreachable star_

* * *

_20 minutes earlier_

Keiichi was sweating profusely as he cranked the gyroscopic wrench on the manifold housing. It was because the dish had failed to unfold like it was supposed to. He was muttering vile oaths under his breath as he cranked the pinions by hand. Fortunately, the oaths were inaudible because he was working in a vacuum.

Over several decades Skuld had tinkered endlessly with the unfolding mechanism, making the design lighter, more elegant, more aesthetically pleasing.

And now it was stuck.

Like most items designed for operation in outer space, the dish was actually rather delicate. It was meant to unfold fractally from its curvilinear manifold into an a great spidery web. Across the diaphanous tracery of the frame was suspended a molecular polymer that was gossamer thin. It was weaved from a wisp of mono-filament that, when fully unfurled, was supposed to stretch across the entire 25km expanse of the dish and create a silvery sheen that was only a few molecules thick.

Except for the eight superlaser hard points, which had to be braced against the enormous photon pressure that they generated, the dish itself had no real structural integrity to speak of. The entire rig stood clear outside the atmosphere so there was no need to worry about making it sturdy in the face of the wind or the elements. It was surprisingly lightweight for its size.

{ Keiichi: Dang it, the vacuum spot-welded the seams together. You just had to be soooo clever with that fractal unfolding mechanism didn't you? }

{ Skuld: Look, I said I was sorry already! }

At that moment Thrymr and Nagato appeared on the scene. Keiichi praised his lucky stars and gave them a hearty thank-you for their prompt arrival. He then quickly tasked Thrymr with the job of lifting and inserting the three massive gimbal bearings, each of which had previously been pulled out of their sockets in yet another one of Skuld's endless improvement projects, this time to reduce friction.

He then ordered Nagato to fly to the point on the superstructure where the seam was sticking due to vacuum welding and try to free it. Meanwhile he switched to work on the collimator housing.

He wiped his brow again and as he looked out for a moment at the target.

He was so high up he could actually see the plane of the disc all the way out to the edge. To the east he could see what looked like a black slug that was floating lazily in the stratosphere. Fenrir. He wondered how much longer Chrono could outfly and outwit the beast before she succumbed to it. He knew that if she failed in her mission to coax the beast to climb out of the atmosphere then the whole endeavor would have been for naught. He shook head his at the sight of the creature, then resumed his work.

Skuld was watching too. { That beast is impossible. It shouldn't exist. }

Keiich started to work on inserting one of the flat mirrors into the collimator housing. First he had to remove the panel cover. { I know. That thing is an abomination. }

{ Skuld: That's not what I meant. I mean a creature like that is physically impossible. }

He ignored her as he continued to pull the 48 screws from the bolts on the collimator panel cover. The original design had only 24.

She was fretting while he did the repairs. { C'mon. Hurry up. }

She was getting antsy. They had worked out the repair plan on their way up the Tree. From his long experience in motorcycle racing and doing emergency pit-stop repairs, they both knew that Keiichi was the better mechanic in a high-pressure situation. So they agreed he should do the actual work with her supervising.

He continued to pull screws. Meanwhile she continued to berate him to work faster. It was not helping.

So he decided to distract her. { Care to explain that remark about Fenrir? } He continued to work.

{ Huh? Oh, yeah. You see, here's the thing: Fenrir is an impossible creature. The square-cube law. }

36 more screws to go. { The square-cube law? }

{ Skuld: Yeah. Creatures like that don't scale up. You see, muscle strength is proportional to the area of the cross-section of the muscle fibers - width times height - but a creature's mass is a function of its _volume_ \- width times height times length. So if you double a creature's size, you get 4 times the muscle power trying to lift 8 times the mass. Triple the size and you get 9 times the muscle trying to move 27 times the mass. Eventually you get a creature that literally collapses under its own weight. Bone strength works the same way. If Godzilla was a real creature it would have collapsed in an explosion of blood and guts in like 5 seconds. }

31 more screws. { That's very.. graphic. }

{ Heh, yeah. The square-cube law also applies to artificial objects. That's why all those Japanese animes with the giant mechas are so silly. Take those mechas in _RahXephon_ or _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ , for example. I did the math once. The engineering requirements for the maximal tensile and compressive strength are ridiculous. You'd have to build their elbow and knee joints out of, like, diamond or something. }

27 more screws. { You don't say. }

{ I know! It's silly. That's why all the biggest animals in Earth's history, like the blue whale and the apatosaurus, all live in water - for the buoyancy. }

24 more. { The apatosaurus? }

{ It's Earth's largest land animal. It spent its whole life standing in deep marshes to support its bulk. }

22 more. { So what does an apatosaurus look like? }

{ I've never seen one, but I've read about them. Some textbooks, the Bible, other places. They used to call it the brontosaurus, but that was a mistake - wrong head on the wrong fossil. Anyway, it's a vegetarian dinosaur that munched on aquatic plants and leaves in marshy wetlands. It's a really magnificent creature. It had a graceful slender neck that was over a hundred feet long, with a counterbalancing tail as big as a cedar tree, just beautiful. It liked to stand in deep marshes with only its head peeking out. I'm looking forward to finally seeing one. }

That stopped Keiichi. { Wait. There are dinosaurs in the Bible? }

{ Oh yeah. The apatosaurus was really magnificent, some of His best work in my opinion. }

He starting pulling screws again. { Where did you read that? }

{ Lemmie think. Its when God basically tells Job to STFU in the Book of Job chapters 38-41. }

{ Job? }

{ Job was this guy who was loudly complaining to all his friends for 30+ chapters about how his life sucked so bad. So they held this big pity party for him where he whined to everybody: 'Woe is me! Why are all these bad things happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?' Yadda, yadda. What a crybaby. Like I said, this goes on for 30 chapters. Finally, God gets fed up and appears as a great whirlwind, where he finally he tells Job to the shut the [bleep] up because the guy just didn't have a clue. }

15 more screws. { A whirlwind? Cool. }

{ Your mom has nothing on Him, believe me. And wow, God is incredibly patient. There's no way I could have waited for 30 chapters before I would have smacked that annoying complainer upside the head. Anyway, He finally tells Job basically, 'Look, I'll answer your whiny pity-party questions if you answer mine first: Where were you when I created the universe? The stars and the heavens? And all the life on this planet? Including you? Answer me!' His blowback starts in Job 38. He goes on to enumerate for Job the many examples of His great earthly creations, culminating in the apatosaurus, called the Behemoth, in Job 40:15-20. }

11 more screws. { Really? How interesting. Think you recall those verses for me? } He kept working.

{ Lemmie think again. I believe it goes something like this: _Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you [Job the crybaby] and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly! Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze; its limbs like rods of iron. It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword. The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. Under the lotus plant it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh_.* That was the apatosaurus - a monster that had a tail that swung around like a cedar tree - sitting in the marsh almost invisible, munching on lily pads by the ton. And because of its massive size it had the most powerful bone structure of any animal known, and with equally incredible muscular strength to hold itself together. Sums up the cube-square law nicely, don't you think? It's why I had to design the firing dish to be so light. Otherwise the sheer weight of the dish would have crushed even Adamite gimbal bearings. }

The last screw. { Wait, you said you're looking forward to seeing an apatosaurus someday? }

{ Nevermind that. Pull that panel off the collimator housing cover, and hurry! }

{ Done. } Keiichi removed the mirror from his tool bag and inserted it into the housing. Then he took out a protractor to measure the angle. He looked at the setting sun as he plumbed the mirror against measured the solar angle. The sun was now 6 degrees above the horizon. Drat, the sun was getting too low! { Ugh. What do you think? }

{ Hmm. Set it for 3 degrees. } The sun moved one degree every four minutes. That gave them 12 minutes to reach the firing bunker at the base of the tree.

{ That's not enough time delay. We'll use 1.5 degrees. }

{ But we can make it to the firing bunker in less than half that time! }

{ We need the delay, in case Thrymr or Nagato run into trouble. Or if something else goes wrong. }

{ Keiichi.. }

{ Trust me, my love. I have experience in emergencies like this. Something always goes wrong. We need the extra time delay for contingencies. } He set the mirror, then he quickly put the cover back on with only 2 screws.

{ Keiichi, now give me back control of my body! } He did.

Skuld zoomed up. First, she looked out on the horizon towards Fenrir. Its distance looked marginal, maybe 800km out, just barely enough. But it was still definitely too low in the atmosphere. Then she noticed it wasn't moving up anymore. Did Chrono falter? There was no time to check and no way to help. Ere and Ex had tasked a sat-cam to overfly the Red Desert. She knew she could monitor Chrono's battle from the firing bunker later.

Second, she checked on Nagato. She saw that he had successfully unfurled the molecular polymer from where it got stuck due to vacuum welding. It was now rapidly moving across the expanse of the dish. She saluted him, then she zoomed to the gimbal housing at the base of the dish where it affixed itself to a huge metal framework that braced the whole structure to the top of the Great Tree.

She landed. She saw that Thrymr was busy heaving the third red spherical Adamite bearing into its socket. The sphere was many times Thrymr's size, and Skuld knew exactly what it weighed. _That is one strong gal._

{ Skuld: Need any help? }

Thrymr glared at the Daitenkaicho, then she roared defiantly in the silent vacuum as she shoved the final bearing into place all by herself.

{ Skuld: Wow, good job. Thank you! } She flew away.

As soon as Thrymr saw that Skuld was out of range, the She-Hulk allowed herself to collapse in an exhausted heap. _I think might have I bruised something with that last deadlift.._

* * *

Ere looked down at the flanged helmet that she held in her hands. It looked vaguely like a German WWII helmet.

"Do I have to wear this stupid helmet?"

Ex nodded. "It's protocol. Put it on."

She protested, "But it makes me look like a dork."

"The protocol for Code 21 was written by the Chief Dork herself. So wear it." Ere grumbled and put on the shiny white helmet.

Ex then looked at her and giggled, "Hah! You're right, you do look just like a dork!" She kept laughing.

"Shut up!"

"Okay, okay. Sorry." Ex put hers on as well.

{ Skuld: We're done up here! I'm coming down! Rig for 1.5 degrees! }

Then Ex said to Ere, "Well, well, speaking of our Imperious Leader.."

"Yes, the Queen of the Dorks is on her way."

Ere was still grumbling about the helmet. "I bet it's Keiichi's influence.. he must be a _Star Wars_ geek."

"No, she's the _Star Wars_ otaku; he's the normal one. Actually, without him riding shotgun inside her head she would probably be ten times crazier."

Ere shook her head. "I can't even begin to imagine her like that..."

Ex nodded, "I know, thank goodness for Mister Sanity sitting in her head." She checked the readings at her console, then she looked back up at Ere. "How are the capacitors over there?"

Ere checked her own panels. "Charging nicely. 73.5% and climbing. No heat variances. How about the collimators?"

Ex checked. "Hmm. If I understand the instructions that Skuld transmitted to me, I think we are good to go. She wants me to use Keiichi's installed mirror when the sun angle hits exactly 1.5 degrees. I'll use the reticule CCD. Joystick number two is already tied into the alignment servo motors. I'll goose them manually to line up the optics where the mirror hits the target mark."

"I bet Skuld will insist on doing it herself."

"Most likely."

Ere asked, "But wait, don't you have to do targeting first? That system is offline."

Ex replied, "Keiichi installed a zoom-capable CCD camera at the bottom of the dish, aimed through the apex. We'll eyeball the target manually."

"I dunno about that.."

"Skuld will be doing that part, trust me. I already have joystick number one hooked up to the main gimbal motors for her use."

They both checked their panels. Ere said, "Capacitors at 77.3% and climbing."

More waiting.

Then Ex asked, "I've never seen Keiichi. He must be really cute."

"Hmm?"

Ex leaned in conspiratorially. "C'mon, he must be a Casanova, right? I mean, he bagged our Imperious Leader for crying out loud. And before that Belldandy was head over heels. I heard Urd even made a pass at him once when they first met! Not to mention Peorth."

"Oh, you know that Peorth hits on pretty much everyone."

"True. But but what about that iron military tightwad, the Air Marshal? I swear she was frigid, but somehow he defrosted her until she became a puddle of water. I mean, she proposed and married him for crying out loud."

Ere frowned. "Hey, just because the Air Marshal flunked you out of Valkyrie Boot Camp gives you no excuse to disrespect her." She knew that Ex had failed to become a Valkyrie because she had a phobia about seeing blood. "Not to mention speaking ill of the dead."

Ex looked chagrined. "Sorry, you're right. I shouldn't talk about her like that. She was a hero."

She re-checked her panel, "Status nominal." Then turned to face her counterpart again for more gossip: "Still, I bet Keiichi must be a total hunk."

Ere shook her head. "Nope. I saw him once. He's a nebbish: Short, jug ears, unruly hair, not attractive at all."

"Then why..." There was a buzz on Ex's panel. She turned.

Ere checked her own panel. "What is it?"

"Security alert!"

"Where?"

Ex's eyes widened in horror. "Here!"

There was a third voice behind them. "Hello, gals!"

It was Sena.

"Wow, those helmets make you two look like dorks."

* * *

Thoriko looked out of the view slit of the bunker. She was getting antsy, like her mother. "I hate all this waiting."

Lindy continued to soothe her sister, "Soon. Be patient."

"I can see that the dish is unfurled. I thought it looked kind of stuck for a while, but I think it's working now. How's Chrono doing?"

Lindy concentrated. Then she felt it. Chrono getting ready to die. "Oh no.."

Thoriko turned. "What's happening?"

Then Lindy felt a huge mental shift. Chrono was whooping for joy. Lindy smiled. "Nevermind. Apparently our brave commander is doing better than we had expected."

Thoriko made a smile. "Let me guess. Halval just saved our ass. Again."

"Oh yes. That demon is quite the hero. I really do like her."

Thoriko nodded approval. "Good. This will help with the natives." She turned to look back outside.

Lindy thought about her new charge. _That demon has given me a ten year service contract. Well, it was her idea, not mine. Maybe it will be enough time for me to convince her to change sides. I must admit I am looking forward to our many private talks together. But for 10 years..?_

Thoriko tensed. "Wait, something's happening up there. The dish is moving."

"Good. Hopefully the targeting will.."

"No, the dish is moving!"

"Yes?"

"It's aiming!"

Thoriko pulled her head away from the view slit and took a step back.

"It's aiming down. Into the atmosphere."

Lindy was shocked. "But.. that will cause casualties! Wait, I don't understand.. Fenrir hasn't landed. So why..?"

Thoriko looked at her sister. Her face was drained of blood.

"What is it?"

"Lindy, that dish is aimed right at us."

* * *

Skuld was flying the 100 kilometers straight down the trunk of the Great Tree.

Then she felt something tickle her mind. It was a faint mental transmission.

{ Nagato: Em..cy. .. subv.. sab.. }

{ Keiichi: That's Nagato. Something just went wrong up there. We need to turn back and help him. }

Skuld closed her eyes and concentrated harder. { Nagato, stop hurting yourself and listen to me. Just send me one pulse if you want me to return topside. Send me two pulses if you want me to continue onward to the firing bunker. }

Two pulses.

{ Good. Now give me the urgency, on a scale of one to five pulses. }

Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. Pulse.

Skuld increased her downward velocity to the point that the air caught fire around her.

{ Skuld: I want full lethal authority. }

{ Keiichi: You have it. Kick ass. }

* * *

Thoriko and Lindy were standing side by side with their faces mushed together as they looked out through the view slit.

They marvelled at the what they saw, for a great red meteor was falling, faster than gravity should allow. It was a streak of intense red, burning bright, with sparks flying off into the twilight in all directions as it hurtled down along the trunk of the Great Tree.

Just before impact it suddenly stopped and made an impossibly sharp turn. Then it seemed to fade and quickly disappear.

"Yay!" "Go, Mother!"

But the dish was beginning to glow.

* * *

Skuld landed at the entrance to the firing bunker. Along her glide path there was a trail of flaming scorched earth behind her. The path of burning destruction from her hypersonic arrival was almost a kilometer wide.

The yellow eyes of the _ōkami_ were now fully aflame with power and wrath. The Angel of Death was abroad in the land.

Skuld blasted down the Adamite door with barely a thought. She marched into the control room.

Then several things happened in very quick succession.

First, Sena, who was hiding behind the door, fired a dart from her blow tube.

Second, Skuld who sensed it, began to turn to block it.

Third, Ex jumped in front of Skuld.

Fourth, Ere screamed.

Fifth, the dart hit Ex's uniform right over her heart.

Sixth, Skuld pointed her finger to obliterate Sena.

Seventh, Keiichi said, { Official veto. }

Eighth, without missing a beat, Skuld opened her pointed hand and the wall behind Sena suddenly turned tacky. Then Skuld made a flicking motion and Sena's body was hurtled against that wall. The red-haired goddess was stuck fast, about four feet up, like a cockroach stuck in a Roach Motel trap.

It was over.

All the above happened in about 1.5 seconds. It was that fast.

Then Skuld ran to Ex's command console and grabbed the joystick. She pulled the stick back hard. There was a loud grinding noise.

Meanwhile, Ere ran to her companion. "Ex!"

Skuld watched the screen intently for a moment, then nodded to herself. The grinding noise subsided. She quickly turned and ran to Ex's stricken body, then she crouched down next to the kneeling sysadmin.

Meanwhile, Ex was prostrate and breathing erratically. Her eyes were wide open and staring straight up at the ceiling in abject terror.

Ere moved to pull out the dart, but Skuld's hand stopped her. "No, it's super toxic. Let me do it." Skuld palpitated the area. Then she put one hand inside Ex's uniform and gently pushed it up from underneath. The dart rose with it. With her second hand she carefully removed the dart from the uniform and placed it on the ground. Her yellow eyes flared. The dart turned into subatomic ash.

"The dart didn't pierce her skin. She's okay." Ex began to sit up as Ere hugged her.

Skuld ran back to Ex's console. "Ere! I need you on the other console!" To her credit, Ere quickly regrouped and resumed her own station.

Skuld was barking orders.

Then she asked, "What's the sun angle!?"

Ere checked her panel. "2 degrees."

{ Keiichi: See? I told you we would need the extra time. }

{ Skuld: I love you. }

{ Keiichi: What? Not 'I hate you'? }

{ Skuld: Not today. }

Skuld stood and wiped her hands. "Ok, let's do this."

Ex also stood up from the floor. "Permission to return to my post, ma'am?"

Skuld smiled, "Permission granted. And here's your helmet back. Put it on."

"Oh.."

Skuld then put on her own flanged helmet and pressed the button on it to engage the aural high-decibel suppression system.

Ere and Ex stared at each other. Their helmets had a button? Then they shrugged and pressed the button on their own helmets that they had both missed.

Skuld shook her head slowly at them. "What, do you think I gave you these helmets as a costume or something? The main power concentrator is right below our feet! I didn't want you to go permanently deaf when it fires!"

"Yes ma'am.." They returned to the controls. Meanwhile Skuld squashed a fourth helmet on Sena's head, who glared back in silence. Skuld turned and ignored the pinned goddess as she watched the exciting drama unfold on the display panels.

It was because Skuld had waited for this moment for 80 years.

Far above them the great tree called Yggdrasil, the living supercomputer that tracked and monitored all life in the world, the tree that manipulated space and time to enable the powers of the gods and goddesses themselves, was transforming.

For Skuld had modified her toy. It no longer drew its power from the demon crystal that her mother had stolen from Niflheim over 80 years ago.

The demon crystal was now only an energy concentrator.

For the weapon now drew its power from a different source, a greater source. The greatest source in all Asgard.

The weapon drew its power from the Great Tree itself.

Power was in-rushing into the concentrator crystal from the roots of the Great Tree. And those roots, those roots that had extended over 40 kilometers deep, that had spanned the entire disc of Asgard, a disc that was an ellipse 500,000 kilometers wide along the major axis and 70,000 kilometers along the minor one, a disc with a total of 100,000,000,000 square kilometers of surface area making it 200 times larger than the surface of the Earth, were all-encompassed by those roots, the source of the Tree's power.

And of the weapon.

Skuld pushed a button and the power surged up into the tree. And then something happened. The leaves of the Great Tree were unfolding, growing. They unfurled in a riot of color and beauty, and great fruit erupted along its branches. The entire tree was surging with life.

The tree framed a great yellowish flower. It had eight petals, and each petal was an intricate fractal lace work, a tracery of delicate beauty. It gleamed silvery-yellow-orange like a sunflower in a Van Gogh painting as it brilliantly reflected the setting sun.

At the center of the artificial flower was a delicate looking pistil, and between each of the eight petals of the flower was a small circular black dot, a superlaser generator, each one of which was carefully aimed at the top of the pistil.

This weapon was nothing like the point defense weapon that had originally defended the Tariki Hongan Temple 80 years ago, which Skuld had installed on the request of her mother from a salvage operation on an old battle station that her mother had 'borrowed' as a trophy during one of her missions that had happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

That weapon was created by a child. It was crude and blunt.

This weapon was created by an adult, the greatest engineer in the history of Asgard.

The flower continued to blossom as it slowly turned up and east.

Skuld asked, "Targeting?"

Ex responded, "Manual. Best guess. As long as we hit the main body.."

"We'll have to chance it."

Ere checked her scope. "Chrono is still too low."

Skuld stood behind her. "Let me see it."

Ere switched the visual feed to the sat-cam. Chrono and Halval were invisible behind a ball of writhing flying serpents. Keichii gasped, { What the heck are those things? }

Skuld shook her head. "I had no idea Fenrir had point defense capability. Not good. We might have to fire early."

Ex looked up, "Ma'am, you'll kill everyone along the beam's path."

"I know that." _Chrono, c'mon. We're rooting for you!_ "Altitude?"

"87 kilometers. Not enough."

"Will the beam's deflection angle hit the disc directly?"

"Uh.. checking.. no. It's along the short axis. The angle is sufficient to clear it." It was because the disc of Asgard was slightly convex like an upside-down dinner plate.

Skuld sighed. { At least we won't nuke the whole disc. }

{ Keiichi: I'm not giving up on Chrono. Wait, look! }

On the monitor there was a small blast of light, then several snakes fell away burning. A tiny object zoomed out of the snake-cloud, flying high into the sky.

There was a cheer around the room.

"Quiet people! Ere, give me the sun angle!"

"1.5 degrees, mark."

"Gimmie that second joystick!"

"Yes ma'am.." Ex discretely stepped back and gave Ere an 'I-told-you-so' look.

Skuld concentrated furiously. She quickly checked the reticule with the target 'X' painted on the underside of the stigma of the pistil tower. The sunlight from the collimator bounced off Keiichi's mirror and illuminated the 'X'.

Or rather it didn't. It was off.

Skuld moved the joystick gently. The light jiggled a bit. She deftly moved it again. Left a titsch. Up a bit. Left again. No, too far. Back right. There.. perfect.

Ex checked her screen. "That looks perfect to me, madam."

"Darn tootin'" She made a fist. _Yeah._ "Target altitude!"

Ex checked. "97 kilometers. It's moving straight up." _Yay, Chrono!_

This was it.

Skuld knew this was her finest hour. "You may fire when ready."

Ere said, "Commence primary ignition."

There was a loud whump-whump-whump noise that filled the room.

Ex replied, "Capacitors reaching the discharge threshold."

Skuld rubbed her hands together in glee, "Heh heh, I feel like a kid again."

Then she smiled her nastiest combat Valkyrie grin as she looked up at the ceiling and announced: "Ok, you rotten fleabag wolf.."

Then she said the words that she had been dying to say for almost a century:

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational, uh, tree.."

The sysadmins stopped and looked at her.

"What? I always wanted to say that.."

Keiichi laughed inside her head. { Nice way to ruin the moment, silly girl. }

"Oh forget it! Just FIRE!"

The flower began to glow. Brighter and brighter, then brighter still. The original Death Star laser fired a 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 watt laser beam that lasted less than a second. But Skuld's little toy fired a beam that was ten times more intense. It ramped exponentially up over a course of several seconds. The long ramp-up delay was considered acceptable. After all, the target couldn't possibly dodge it.

The flower grew brighter and brighter. Then the black slug on the horizon turned white.

Chrono had somehow oriented Fenrir so the Great Maw was facing the tree.

Then the beam grew impossibly bright. Everyone looked away.

Except Skuld, whose eyes glittered.

For the beam had shot directly into the wolf's mouth.

And it came out the other side.

The wolf's innards were eviscerated. Entrails, blood, bone, organs, all flew apart in a surreal ballet of dissolution.

Skuld jumped and whooped. "Booya! Nobody messes with an engineer!"

{ Keiichi: Boy, I sure hope nobody lives out there. } For if they had, they were about to find several gigatons of wolf entrails dropping on their heads.

{ Skuld: It's the Red Desert. Nobody's there. }

Ex stared at the slow-motion carnage on the viewscreen. "All that blood..." Her face was turning white.

Skuld said sardonically, "Well, the Red Desert's name is soon going to be very apt. "

Ere responded, "Or should we call it the Red Lake now?" There was certainly enough hemoglobin raining down to create one.

Ex kept staring in shock at the ochre downpour. Ere glanced at Skuld, who quickly nodded assent. Ere then gently escorted her hemophobic partner out of the room. On their way out Ex kept repeating, "All that blood, so much blood.."

{ Skuld: Well, it's understandable. There's almost enough of it to film a John Carpenter horror flick. Almost. }

{ Keiichi: Heh. Speaking of red losers, we have unfinished business to attend to. }

Skuld sighed. _Always more business. I never get any fun._ She turned to face the back wall, where Sena was lolling.

{ Keiichi: Let me handle this. }

{ Skuld: Please do. I just wanna fry her. }

Keiichi turned to face the red-headed goddess, who was still glued to the wall like flypaper. He took no pleasure in what he was about to do.

He formally addressed the ex-Valkyrie: "Sena, daughter of Brünnhilde, daughter of Jörð, you are hereby accused of committing the following crimes: high treason in treating with the enemy, leading a war of aggression which caused several deaths, inciting open revolt and rebellion, unleashing a weapon of mass destruction, and attempting to assassinate the leader of Asgard."

Sena affected a look of bored indifference."So kill me then."

Keiichi shook his head. "No. You will stand trial before the Council, where you will be tried and judged by a jury of your peers. You will be given counsel for your defense."

{ Skuld: Lindy? }

{ Keiichi: Yeah. }

"I don't want any defense counsel. Nor will I participate in your show-trial. I plead guilty. Convict me now."

{ Skuld: You realize this is capital. We already discussed this. She's too dangerous. }

{ Keiichi: Yes we did. Let me continue. }

"Done. You are hereby convicted."

"So now kill me."

"No."

"You are stronger than me. You won. Your Will-To-Power is greater than mine. Therefore I deserve to die. For being weak."

"No. We are turning you over to Lindy for the administration of your punishment. She has requested that duty, and we will grant it."

"Lindy? Then you are a total fool. I was wrong. You are the weak ones, not me."

"You really think so?"

"I will escape. You know I will. It's inevitable."

Keiichi took a step towards the prisoner. Wait, did his eyes have a glint of yellow in them? Impossible.

Sena remained defiant. "Lindy has never harmed a soul in her life. She's a pacifist. She'd never hurt me, much less kill me."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am, why?"

Keiichi took another step. Yes, there was a distinct hint of yellow in those intense eyes.

"Because after Lindy is done with you..."

Sena saw his eyes now were definitely yellow. And for the first time on that day she began to be afraid.

"... you might wish you _were_ dead."

* * *

Thoriko and Lindy were helping the civilians exit the bunker. Finally they were outside. Thoriko was still shaking her head in wonder. "She gutted it. You think Mother actually killed it?"

Lindy wiped her hands. "Oh no, you can't kill that thing, not really. But it won't be harming anyone for a long, long time."

Thoriko knew that eventually they'd have to send a recovery team. In a few days time the team would find a small whimpering wolf cub.

The sun had now fully set and the tree was dark. Thoriko scanned out along the eastern horizon in the direction of the Red Desert. Her IR vision revealed nothing but a uniform dull red glow. It was slowing cooling; nothing was there.

Lindy approached behind her. "Mother will probably appoint you as the new Air Marshal."

Thoriko continued to gaze east where Chrono and Haval had made their heroic sacrifice.

She nodded. "Then as my first official act I will order full military honors for Chrono and Haval. We will build a single shared funeral barge and light it. We don't have the doublet system anymore, but a goddess and demon died together on this day defending our shared world. They'll burn together on the barge. I know we won't recover any actual bodies for the ceremony, but the symbolism is important. I'll perform the funeral service oratory and stand the three-day honor-guard myself."

Lindy nodded in silent agreement.

Then she tilted her head. "Wait.." She looked out.

"Hmm?"

Then she shook her head in a gentle smile. For two figures were slowly walking up the hill towards them. A small wisp of smoke was rising from both of them.

Thoriko's eyes widened in wonder. "Those crazy, insane, idiotic, wonderful.."

Chrono staggered to the top of the hill as she smiled. "That was a fun joyride. Let's do it again!" Then she collapsed.

Meanwhile Halval looked drunk. "I think I am getting air sick.."

Thoriko and Lindy rushed up to them. Then they got a closer look and stopped in shock.

When Halval had wrapped her heavy dark cloak around Chrono it had protected both of their bodies from direct illumination from the superlaser. But not their faces. The right side of each had serious third degree burns. So did Chrono's remaining right arm where it held the broom. Stringfellow was no more. But it had the glorious ending that it had wanted.

Lindy rushed to Chrono's side and touched the unconcious Air Marshal to ease her pain. Chrono's breathing slowed as the pain subsided.

Then Lindy looked up at Halval, "You next."

Halval made a bow. "Thank you for your gracious offer, Daimakaicho-sama, but I respectfully decline."

Lindy was worried for her indentured servant. The burns were a dreadful contrast to the rest of the now fully-revealed demon.

It was because Halval's magical black cloak had sacrificed itself to protect both Chrono and herself during the superlaser's slow warm-up period. It was now gone, revealing the form of the demon dwelling within it for the very first time.

Some people had speculated that Halval had perpetually hidden herself within her long dark cloak because she was terribly deformed, a monster. She was not. Her slender figure was now fully revealed, obscured only by a thin black camisole. She was captivating as she stood proudly like an aristocrat. It made the burn damage to the right side of her face all the more distressing to Lindy. She knew that the proud woman would be scarred for life.

"Halval, let me ease your pain. Those burns must really hurt."

"Yes, they do." She tried to smile, then grimaced as the charred skin cracked on her face. "It is not.. pleasant.."

"Then why refuse healing?"

What shown brightly through Halval's damaged face was pure joy and excitement. "My mistress, I saw the _light_. I will never forget this day. These burns are yet another new sensation. The pain, I wish to experience it. This will heal on its own eventually?"

"Yes. As a combat Valkyrie you have fast regenerative ability. There will be some scarring, however. And it will be permanent. I'm sorry."

"Then I will wear my new scars with pride. It will help me to remember fondly this wonderful day. For this was the day that I saw the light."

"Okay.. I think I understand..." She felt terrible that Halval suffered so much on their behalf.

Halval made a knowing smile despite the discomfort it caused. "I perceive that you wish to embrace me?"

Lindy was embarrassed at the astute observation of the blind woman. "You don't miss anything, do you." Lindy felt compelled to ease her suffering any way she could. "You want a hug?"

Halval shook her head. "My mistress, I am not worthy of such familiarity from you."

"Now you're definitely getting one." Lindy gently hugged the blind woman, being careful not to touch her burns.

And again Halval marvelled, for it was yet another sensation that she had never experienced before: affection and friendship. The sensation was breathtaking. Somehow a new instinct awoke in her and she slowly brought up her arms and put them around her mistress in return.

Lindy saw the burns on Halval's right arm where she had reached out from within her heavy cloak to envelop and protect Chrono. Those burns were as bad as those on her face. Her empathic ability allowed her to feel the pain that Halval must be suffering. Because of that pain Lindy decided to overrule her servant's wishes. She closed her eyes and transferred some healing energy from herself into the burned Valkyrie.

Halval gasped. The demon was already euphoric from all the heady experiences she had experienced on that day. And with the new in-rush of energy her mind soared even higher. Then higher still. _Truly, I see the light._ In her mind she soared and wheeled high in the air of Heaven like a free bird.

And then Halval experienced yet another wonderful feeling on that day. It was one she had experienced before in the presence of her mistress. But what was it? When that feeling had happened previously she couldn't name it, or indeed even understand it. But in her current state she suddenly understood. Should she say? No, it would be inappropriate.

But her euphoria overruled her better judgment.

And so, in her giddy state, as she quietly lay the unburned side of her face upon the shoulder of her mistress - the most exalted, beautiful, wisest, and greatest Daimakaicho in the history of Niflheim - Halval closed her eyes and whispered something that completely surprised herself. And it surprised her mistress too: "I think I love you."

Lindy sighed. Her energy transfer must have made the demon even more loopy. It had happened before. Even Thoriko got buzzed by it. She held the embrace for a few more seconds so that Halval would not think she was repulsed by her intemperate remark, then she gently released the hug. Halval's expression was unreadable. Lindy guessed it was embarrassment, so she said, "It's all right. You're not yourself. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk later."

Thoriko stepped forward. "Ok, you two stop your little love fest. Look, I want an explanation. There is no way those two suicidal idiots could have survived that laser hit."

Just then Skuld appeared. "Hey, that was fun! Let's do it again!"

"Very funny, Mother."

"What a day this has been! First war and revolution, then nuking the world, then spanking a mutt. All in 24 hours. What a day! Wow, I feel like a such a kid. Say, you folks all okay?"

Thoriko said, "Apparently so. I was just about to ask Halval here why she is not dead."

Skuld turned to the blind demon and said, "Hmm, that's actually a rather good question. I am afraid that I must agree with my daughter's astute observation of your status: You do not appear to be dead."

Haval was her stoic self again. She said matter-of-factly, "True."

"Then, lieutennant commander, would you care to explain it?"

"Certainly. It was simple." Halval raised and showed her left arm, which still had intact its white glove and elegant jeweled wrist strap.

Skuld recognized it. "A red ruby.. is that what I think it is?"

"Yes, this is Hrungnir's personal panic device. If I press the jewels together it flips its wearer into nullspace."

"Ah. I remember that gizmo. Hrungnir used it to escape getting killed inside of V'ger when she tried to sabotage it during the War."

"Yes. After the War she had issued these devices to all of her top minions, including myself. So when the superlaser started to burn our bodies, I wrapped my arms around Chrono's waist and pressed the jewels together. I was unsure if Chrono would be included in the area of effect, but fortunately she was. And so we left the universe together and dropped into nullspace."

"Very nice. Say, if you don't mind, I'd like to borrow that cool gizmo and study it. I promise I'll give it back."

"Certainly."

Keiichi sighed. { More toys to play with?}

{ Skuld: Shush. }

{ Keiichi: You never will grow up, will you? }

{ Skuld: Nope. }

Then Skuld looked up. She smiled.

"Ah, as I expected." She continued to look up.

That prompted others who were nearby to also look up.

There were gasps. Many of the other civilians who were standing further away then turned to see what was happening on the hilltop. For they saw the faces of the mightiest beings in Asgard all looking upwards at the heavens. And so they looked up too.

More gasps.

Soon every soul on the hillside was looking up in wonder.

For the stars had returned.

The sky was full of stars. Not the paltry 10,000 stars of a pocket universe, but _billions_. For the entire span of a major spiral galaxy was in the sky. It was a beautiful pinwheel, glorious and majestic, spanning the entire skyline from horizon to horizon, its spiral arms spreading far and wide, with its graceful curves surrounding a bright central bulge.

For you see, Asgard was now located in a Universe that was 13.8 billion years old and billions of light years wide, nestled among 100 billion other galaxies, each with billions of its own stars.

Keiichi too looked up in wonder. He was standing right next to her. He was semi-transparent.

Skuld did a double-take. "Wow! Keiichi, you're projecting!"

"Huh?" He looked down at his own body. Then he waved his hands around. "Hmm, I guess I am. How am I doing this?"

"It looks like you are drawing the power to create your projection right from my body. You're doing the same thing that Big Sis did when she was inside your first wife's head, you remember that? Apparently our minds are now so tightly integrated that you can do that yourself now."

"Neat. Hi girls!"

Lindy was staring. Thoriko leaned over and whispered, "Wow, he's not a very impressive specimen, is he?"

Lindy glared back and hushed her sister.

Keiichi then put his arms around his wife and looked up into the sky with her.

Skuld said, "Well, fancy that, a barred spiral. Type SBb if I'm not mistaken."

Keiichi started to ask her, "Is this.."

"Follow where I'm pointing. See the left spiral arm, the second one? That's the Perseus Arm. Now see that little hook off the Perseus Arm? That is the Orion Spur. And that, dear husband, is where Sol is. Earth. Your home."

"You mean.."

"We are roughly 10,000 light years above the galactic plane, and maybe 40,000 light years around the main axis. Best guess. Our tilted inclination gives us a wonderful view of your whole galaxy, don't you think? That was a nice touch."

Keiichi kept looking skyward. "It's amazing."

"Isn't it? The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.** And there it is. Just look at it all. So beautiful."

"Yes, it is."

"It's exactly His style, too. He's such a show-off. First He does the Big Bang and let's us see the whole thing with the UDF, then He struts around Job ticking off the coolest bits of His creation right to that dweeb's face, then He arranges for the Big Rip just to show us a spectacular ending... He's always showing off."

"Well, I think God is entitled to do that, don't you think? I mean, that's who He is."

"You're right of course. And then He pulls the biggest stunt of them all, His ultimate demonstration exercise: The Incarnation. He actually becomes human to experience death first-hand. Just to show us how much He loves us. Such a class act. I really do love the guy."

"Will we ever meet Him?"

Skuld turned. "You might, I won't."

"Why not?"

"Keiichi, look. I'm a created being; I have a job and I do it. I'm not meant to approach the Inner Circle. If I tried that I'd get incinerated far worse than Chrono or Halval with the superlaser. I mean, are you kidding? All that power, that light.. the sheer intensity. It would obliterate me. Only certain very special angels can get that close." She smiled. "And I think you know who I'm talking about."

"Yeah.." He continued to look up to admire the artistry in the sky.

There was a noise in the background. They both ignored it.

Skuld said, "Isn't it all neat? And His dark-matter hack makes it all work. Without dark matter we would be looking at a featureless fuzzball at best. Just look at that. So marvellous. Those spirals will go round-and-round practically forever. I love His engineering aesthetics. He really has style."

Keiichi said, "I love it too." He pointed at the Orion Spur. "Can we go there? Can I go home?"

"Sorry, my dear. No. Your home is at least 60,000 light years from here. We don't have FTL travel, and the gates are all gone. Your home is the unreachable star."

"The unreachable star?"

The noise surrounding them was growing louder.

Skuld said, "It's cordoned off to boot, a temporary no-go zone. We have been granted permission to exist in the Universe, but your star is forbidden to us for now. Sol is off limits for at least the next 1,000 years. Sorry."

"But some day I can go home?"

"Yes, some day. I'll take you myself. We'll go together to the unreachable star."

"That will be wonderful."

 _Yes it will. But not the way you think._ Skuld knew that while Keiichi was projecting outside her body that he was not privy to her thoughts.

Then she gave him an enigmatic smile. "But first, dear husband, I plan to take you on a little side tour.."

The noise was growing very loud.

Skuld and Keiichi finally broke away from their private conversation. Skuld glared around her, "What!?"

For a great crowd had surrounded them.

They were all cheering.

Thoriko and Lindy were standing together in front of their parents looking somewhat embarrassed.

And with the crowd hailing them, with demons and angels standing intermingled, side by side, their hands clapping, they all cheered.

And so the Great House of Morisato stood together under the innumerable stars.

* * *

**A/N:**

If someone could please use Adobe Illustrator and draw the above tableaux for me, I would be very grateful. Full credit of course. Keiichi looks the same as he always does, except he is glowing and partially transparent like Anakin and Obi-wan at the end of _The Return of the Jedi_. He is wearing his usual outfit: a T-shirt with a pair of frumpy khakis and dirty tennis shoes. A rumpled windbreaker jacket is tied around his waist. His arm is around Skuld, who is standing tall and proud, looking like a beautiful Snow White with flowing black hair down to her waist. She's about 8 centimeters taller than he is. She is wearing a longish brown wraparound skirt. Her eyes are her usual brown color (not yellow). The blue sigils on her cheeks and forehead are completely filled in (no circular holes). Meanwhile, their two daughters are located in front of their parents, standing slightly lower on the hill. One is a strong looking brunette wearing gauntlets, with her shoulder-length black hair ending in curls in the back. She is wearing a Greco-roman outfit like Thor's, but ending in a metal skirt that looks like Xena's. She is holding Thor's hammer in her right hand. She has strong brown _tsurime_ eyes, and her face is angular and looks somewhat aggressive. The second daughter has soft _tarame_ hazel eyes and blond shoulder-length hair. She is wearing a delicate looking red and white kimono. Her face looks serene and is rounder than her sister's. She is holding her hands crossed pleasantly in front of her, looking rather like Belldandy. And behind and above the Morisato family is the grand spiral of the Milky Way galaxy on full display in all its blazing glory.

* From the New International Version. You need to use a modern translation such as NIV or NASB, not KJV, as the latter messes up the translation in some places. It's because Job is the hardest book in the Bible for anyone to translate, as its ancient original language pre-dates even Hebrew (it's the oldest book in the Bible).

** Psalm 19:1 (NIV)


	25. Melancholy Confessions

**Chapter 25: Melancholy Confessions**

_One day later_

Yuko Himura and Yuuki Nagato were sitting alone together next to a little round pond that was located not far from the HQ building. The slender girl with the deep ruby eyes and pillbox hat remained silent as she watched a flock of golden geese paddle through the water. The tall man also watched in silence as the sun sparkled behind the geeses' rippling wakes.

Sitting side by side, they remained in that state of quietude for several minutes.

Finally she spoke. "Lindy and Skuld were quite resourceful. It seems that we were not actually needed to rescue Lindy from Sena.

The gentle giant said softly, "No, we were not."

They continued to watch the paddling geese in silence. A mother goose started to honk in protest as a gander got too close to her retinue of little goslings. They continued to watch as the sun glinted off their golden plumage.

More minutes went by.

Then she spoke again. "Neither of us belong here."

They had spent their entire lives on Earth. It was their home, but now it was locked away from them.

They were exiles.

80 years ago, Skuld had appointed Yuko Amamiya as the first L1 to manage the restart of the Goddess Help Line. A few days later Yu Himura, a senior majoring in Architecture, had picked up the phone in his dorm room at the Nekomi Institute of Technology and had inadvertently called the Goddess Help Line in almost exactly the same way that Keiichi Morisato had done four years prior.* And so Yuko had miraculously appeared before him, the one person she had loved with all her heart, who had loved him ever since they were both small children growing up in an orphanage together. They had become permanently separated by adoption to different parents. Eventually, at age 16, they met and fell in love all over again. But shortly afterwards her life had suddenly ended in a terrible tragedy that Himura could not prevent despite all his efforts.

Four years after that tragedy, Skuld programmed the Yggdrasil Mark II supercomputer to choose the best candidate to run the Helpline. The winning candidate would be elevated to first-class angel status. She instructed the supercomputer to select six recently-deceased mortals who fit the parameters that Skuld had requested: selfless, innocent, caring, and with a deep understanding of sorrow as well as joy.

Skuld and Keiichi looked over the list. Based on Yuko Amamiya's tragic history and resiliency in the face of terrible suffering, and who, in spite of such grave injustices had subsequently guided, helped, and rescued so many others from their own afflictions - such as when she saved a little girl from a suicidal mother - they agreed that Amamiya was by far the best choice.

And so four years later, at age 20, Yu Himura dropped the telephone and marveled in complete amazement at the person he saw standing right in front of him: Yuko had come back, fully alive, fully real. And as an angel to boot.

And so, while standing in his dorm room on the Nekomi campus, Himura made his wish: that she would stay with him for the rest of his life. And she immediately granted his wish with great joy. Eventually she married him and became Yuko Himura. They spent a long and happy lifetime together. They even had children, though none possessed any of the special powers that were granted to her in Heaven.

Previously, in her briefing for her new role on the Goddess Help Line, Skuld had carefully instructed Amamiya to not grant any wish that would commit her to any sort of long-term action or obligation. Skuld had cited Keiichi's original wish to Belldandy as an example of the kind of foolish wish that Amamiya was explicitly prohibited from granting to anyone. But Yuko had disregarded Skuld's instructions and had granted Yu's wish anyway. Their both having human DNA meant that the Judgement Gate technically did not apply, but that was no excuse. And so, as punishment for her disobedience, Skuld had exiled her to live on Earth indefinitely with all her powers withdrawn.

Yuko did not mind her punishment, her exile. In fact she relished it.

She had finally lost her husband due to old age. They had lived together in wedded bliss for almost 60 years before he finally passed on. She knew that some of their grand-children and great-grandchildren had survived the Tribulation and were now living in the new millennium. She longed to return home to Earth to see them again someday.

She turned and asked the gentle giant that was sitting next to her, "You lost a mortal that was dear to you too, did you not? Someone you loved?" She suspected that he had suffered something similar to her own loss, though he never spoke of it.

He was silent for a moment as he remembered his own past. His own loss.

Then he finally spoke, "Yes, I did. I was her guardian angel. I watched over her when she was an infant, then as a child, then as a high-school student. I protected her and guided her. And yes, I loved her."

"What happened?"

"A tragedy. Her world had ended. Her entire universe. It was as if neither had ever existed." He looked down. "And so I will never see her again."

His face remained impassive. Then he looked up again at her companion. "You were originally mortal yourself, were you not?"

Her face looked sad and wistful. "Yes, I was."

"Then I am very sorry for you. Your choice must have been very difficult. You have my condolences and my sympathy." He said that because he understood the high price that Yuko had paid to become an angel. Her loss had hit her especially hard, much harder than the sadness that Nagato felt for his own loss of his beloved Joanne**. Yuko had knowingly given up the chance to be with Yu in the afterlife. It was because humans were oddly blessed: They could go to the True Heaven and see their loved ones again. But angels like himself and Yuko did not have that privilege. There was no afterlife for beings that were already in Heaven. The rare exception was if they were somehow promoted, but few Asgardian angels had that honor. And almost all of them hit a glass ceiling at level 16. And as far as Nagato knew the highest level that any promoted Asgardian angel had ever achieved was level 38.

But humans could go higher. Much, much, higher.

By becoming an angel and granting Yu's wish, Yuko had forsaken her chance to eventually join up with her love again. It was a heavy price to pay, and so she had tried to make him as happy as she possibly could during their brief time together on Earth. Eventually she had watched him grow old while she remained forever young. Neither of them ever regretted the decision, even though they both knew full well the consequences of their mutual choice and had fully accepted it.

The tall man stood up, then turned to face her. He said in a quiet voice, "Himura-san, we should go report to the HQ to receive our new assignments."

She sighed, "Yes. As lovely as this place is, it is time that we resumed our duties." She stood as well.

"I was originally assigned to an alternate universe. I expect I will be assigned to another one. Perhaps you will as well?"

She nodded, "Now that Earth is quarantined, I think it is quite likely."

Nagato looked at the who girl had suffered so much and yet had helped so many. She was still very young, only 100 years old. He, however, was an old soul, with a reservoir of wisdom that he had slowly gathered over millennia. He never told her his true age. He wondered if perhaps he had lived too long.

"Well, then it is possible that you and I might be assigned to the same universe this time."

"Yes, that would be nice." She gave him a small smile.

He returned the centenarian's smile with a small one of his own. She was barely an adolescent in his eyes. He wondered if perhaps she might become another one that he would protect - someone like his beloved Joanne, who had dragged him along on so many wild adventures, and who surprised him so many times with her tenacity and determination against incredible odds. He felt this one might have such fortitude as well. Yes, he would continue on.

She added, "And please, call me Yuko."

"Yes, Yuko-san."

He held out his hand.

She took it.

They left together.

* * *

_Six months later_

It was four in the afternoon: tea-time. Lindy was sitting at an outdoor picnic table in front of the château. She was reading a parchment.

Sena walked up. She was holding a tea tray in front of her. "Your afternoon tea, mistress."

Lindy then said absent-mindedly, "Oh, thank you." She didn't look up.

Sena served the tea for her. Lindy continued to scan the document. Sena then turned to go back to the scullery to finish cleaning up from the luncheon that Lindy had hosted for the Demon Benevolent Society.

But then Sena hesitated.

Lindy finally looked up from the document that she was reading. "Yes?"

"I am sorry ma'am. But my session..?"

"In a little while. The usual time. Please go."

Sena bowed and left.

Lindy watched her servant leave. What bothered Lindy was that Sena's continued existence was a daily reminder of the terrible punishment that she had inflicted on the disgraced Valkyrie for her many crimes. Sena was guilty of inciting war and revolution and for the subsequent deaths that the red-headed Nietzschen philosopher had caused in her failed attempt to slay all the high-ranking gods and goddesses in order to take over the rule of Heaven as an absolute despot per the German philosopher's teachings. She had committed several capital crimes, and the Daitenkaicho was prepared to execute Sena as punishment.

But Lindy had intervened and plead for mercy. And even though Lindy's intervention had saved Sena's life, her feelings of guilt about it often resurfaced. It was the most harm that she had ever done to another sentient being.

When Skuld first heard Lindy's proposal she had real misgivings as well. Skuld was worried that Sena would be able to resist and eventually break free somehow. But after it was done she had to admit that Lindy was right: It was totally effective and unbreakable.

Sena was in a jail without walls. And she would never be able to escape from it.

Skuld had to agree with her husband; in some ways it was a punishment worse than death.

An hour later Lindy was inside the château. She was reading Halval's secret status report. The demon was on a long-term clandestine mission to the land of the Frost Giants. It was an elaborate subterfuge that was intended to eventually bring about reconciliation with Valhalla's greatest remaining enemy. Halval was pretending to offer to betray Valhalla to the Frost Giants, and the Frost King had bought the story hook, line, and sinker. What impressed Lindy is that the intricate yarn that the demon had spun for the King contained no actual outright lies.

The clock chimed six. Sena arrived exactly on time. She looked anxious. Lindy pointed to the couch without looking up. Sena lay down on the couch and closed her eyes.

Lindy got up and stood at the head of the couch. _In some ways I am punishing myself for this. Every single day._ She then lightly touched the temples of Sena's head with her fingers. There was a glow as energy flowed from Lindy's right finger directly into Sena's brain. It flowed back into her left finger on the other side.

Sena moaned with pleasure.

After 60 seconds it was done. Sena would then remain on the couch in pure bliss for the next two hours. Sena did not actually gain any energy this way - Lindy had simply sent the energy out through her right finger and reabsorbed it in her left.

But the effect was devastating. It was like a Niven tasp. Sena was now addicted to a drug that was far more powerful than any opioid, with withdrawal symptoms that - if she went without her treatment for more than a day - were too terrible to imagine.

And so Sena would be Lindy's willing slave, trapped in a mental jail of high-intensity endorphins, for the rest of her life.

Lindy looked at her charge.

Then she left the room.

She wanted to be alone.

* * *

_Two years later_

Lindy sat by herself on a green hill overlooking the lake.

She sensed someone walking up the hill behind her in silence. Without turning around she said, "Good morning, Halval. It is a beautiful day, isn't it?"

The Dark Lady approached and came alongside her. She knelt and carefully swept her flowing black robes to create a cushion, then she sat down. She said, "Yes, my mistress. It is a fine day, as you know full well."

Lindy continued to look out ahead. "And do you find that boring? That the weather here in Asgard is exactly the same every day? That it never changes?"

"Actually, I find it rather pleasant."

"But you can't see it."

Lindy glanced over at the blind woman. The scars that she saw on Halval's face would never go away, but they did not detract from her beauty except in the most superficial way. If anything, the faded scars made the natural born aristocrat appear even more dignified.

Halval's face looked up directly at the sun, her eyes unaffected by the intense glare. "True, I cannot. But I can feel the warmth of the sun on my face, I can hear the rustle of the leaves in the trees as they sigh, and I can hear the birds as they sing. I am glad to be able to experience all these things. I would miss them all greatly if they were suddenly taken away."

Lindy was thoughtful. "We often take for granted the things that are right in front of us. Until it is too late."

"Your words are wisdom. You remind me of your grandmother."

"Really? My namesake?" Lindy was referring to Skuld's adoptive mother.

"No, your other grandmother."

"Mariah?" She meant Takano, Keiichi's mother, the great wind elemental.

"Again, no. I mean your maternal grandmother. Your real one."

"Oh. Anzus." Lindy knew that Skuld and her real mother were never close. Indeed, Anzus had never spoken to her daughter while she was alive.

"You have never met her? Skuld's real mother?"

Lindy became uncomfortable and changed the subject. "Okay, something is obviously on your mind, Halval." It was because, as far as she knew, Halval never just sat with anybody. Nor did she ever engage in idle chit-chat, at least not without a deeper agenda. "What brings you up here?"

The Dark Lady sat and said nothing. Lindy waited patiently. Then Halval finally said, "If you must know, my mistress, I am feeling distressed."

Lindy looked at her with concern. "Really? What is it?"

The demon remained silent. Then she spoke again: "I do not want to say."

"Why not?"

"Because it would distress me even more."

Lindy turned and faced her. "Look, if this is because of your blurted confession to me two years ago, I've told you a hundred times that it's okay. You were totally loopy. It was just the headrush of the energy transfer. That, plus your seeing actual light for the first time, plus the endorphins from the burns - all of those new experiences made you as high as a kite. You weren't yourself that day."

"No, I was not. I apologize again."

"And forgiven again for the 101st time."

A pause.

"So what is it then?"

Silence.

Lindy said, "Do you want me to command you to speak? I will, if you believe that will help."

"Thank you for your gracious offer, but I do not think it will."

Lindy became more concerned. "Halval, you know that I only have your best interests at heart. We're alone here. You can speak freely to me whenever is on your mind. I'll keep anything you tell me in the strictest confidence."

"Thank you again, my mistress, but I think you misunderstand me."

Lindy waited again.

The Dark Lady said, "It distresses me because if I tell you what I am thinking right now, it will distress _you_."

"It's all right. Just tell me. What's on your mind?"

More silence.

"Okay, I see you want me to order you, so fine. Halval, I order you to tell me."

"Very well. You have commanded me to reveal my secret."

The Dark Lady's unseeing eyes quickly met hers. "My confession to you that day was real."

Halval waited.

She expected one of four possible reactions: shock, anger, embarrassment, or laughter.

Lindy did none of these. Instead the blond goddess simply looked down at the grass and picked up the blades idly with her fingers. "I know."

Halval looked at her mistress with her blind eyes for several moments. Then she revealed her hands from her robes, something she almost never did. She used one hand to carefully remove the white glove from her other hand. Then she placed one long and delicate finger on Lindy's left cheek and held it there, then she gently stroked it.

Lindy sighed and closed her eyes.

The blond goddess finally said, "Please.. stop."

Halval quickly took her hand away as if stung. She spoke quickly, "My profound apologies, my mistress. It was wrong for me to do that without your permission. You are my mistress and I presumed arrogantly. Please punish me if you wish."

"No, it's fine. Just.. please.. don't do that again."

She looked away redfaced. "Yes, my mistress."

"And you can drop the 'mistress' title too." Lindy had long ago released Halval from her indentured service agreement. But the Dark Lady insisted on acting and speaking as if the agreement was still in effect. Lindy had to periodically remind her that she was doing so voluntarily, purely on her own volition.

"Nobody is your mistress, certainly not me."

The Dark Lady ignored her statement, then she asked a question of her mistress: "You believe this is improper because there is a power imbalance between us? Because your world frowns upon intimate relationships between a subordinate and a superior? Yes?"

"It does."

"But that is not the real reason why you rejected me just now."

"Also true."

"I know the real reason."

"Ah, and here it comes. I see you forced this, Halval. Clever."

"Yes. I admit that what I did just now was a deception." The Dark Lady smiled. "If I succeeded in deceiving you, it is only because I have a great teacher."

"That was good acting. I'm impressed." _My, she is subtle, that one. This is just like the way she so deftly maneuvered me into accepting her indentured service proposal, and the way she's been trying to get me to switch sides ever since. She's really quite skillful. Pity she'll never change sides herself._

"Touché, you got me." Lindy felt chagrined because she ought to have realized that Halval would never have dared to actually physically touch her mistress like that without an invitation first.

But Halval knew she would never receive such an invitation. Nor would anyone else.

Ever.

And that was what concerned Halval.

"Your words are high praise, my lady. I did it for a purpose. It is because I am your friend, and I am worried for you."

Lindy was again uncomfortable. "Just tell me what you want to say."

"I concerned for your well being."

"For me."

"Yes."

"Why? Because I don't have a partner? Or because I don't want one?"

"Neither. True, you are alone. But you believe that you are destined to always be alone. Not by choice, but by fate. It is the latter that distresses me, that belief."

"Can't be helped."

And then for first the time on that sunny day, Halval spoke words to Lindy that actually surprised her.

"I know the reason why you believe you must remain alone."

That startled the blond goddess. "You do?"

"Yes, I do."

_Hmm. She's fishing again. I'm not falling for it a second time._

Lindy looked at her in silence. _C'mon, Halval. Admit it, you are bluffing me again._

The Dark Lady returned her look with deadly earnest. "I can sense your aura. I know."

 _She's stalling._ "Halval, you're blind."

"I did not say I could see see your aura, I only said I could sense it."

"And what do your keen senses tell you about me? My aura?"

A pause. _Heh, gotcha._

"They tell me that you are the same as Anzus, the same as Belldandy..."

_Wait.. could she really know?_

Lindy waited.

"... that you are not actually here."

_Oh my word. She really does know._

Lindy reacted with pleased amusement. "Well done, I'm impressed. I thought you were bluffing again. You actually fooled me twice in one conversation. That's very good." Lindy idly pulled up some more blades of grass. "You know, you are the very first person to figure that out?"

She meant Halval was the first person whose existence was not also bifurcated like herself, Anzus, or Belldandy. Her grandmother and her aunt had known Lindy's secret all along, of course.

Then Lindy said, "But Father suspects, I think."

Halval replied, "Then your father is a wise man."

"Yes, he is." She smiled. "Halval, you really are observant, just like Father."

"Your words are high praise and music to my eyes. May I ask where you really are right now?"

"I'm someplace else. I can't be more specific."

"I understand." Lindy's grandmother and her aunt both lived in a location that was not far from her own, a place that was closer to the Center than hers. They had often dropped by to visit her, in person, several times. They sometimes even played Mahjong together.

Halval said, "The truth is, your existence is very different than anyone else here in Asgard. Because of it, you have a spiritual separation and isolation that gives you a hidden melancholy side. You hide it very well, but I can sense it."

Her blind eyes again looked deep into her master's. "I feel your sadness. You believe that as long as you remain in this world that you will always stand apart from everyone. You will always be alone." She wondered, did Belldandy feel the same way when she lived with Keiichi? She must have, for Belldandy knew that Keiichi could never have bridged that gap. She must have known it***, just like Lindy knew it now.

"Lindy, you know that I am your friend. Must you be alone? Is there nothing that can be done?"

Lindy continued to look out at the idyllic landscape.

"Like I said, it can't be helped."

Then Lindy quietly got up and left.

Halval sat alone on the hill. Her unreadable eyes looked up again at the blinding light of the sun.

She carefully reviewed the conversation that she had just had with her mistress. She continued to stare at the sun, deep in thought.

It was because she knew that she had fooled Lindy, not twice, but three times during that conversation.

Lindy would have been doubly impressed had she known what Halval had actually done.

Halval's deception was a deception.

The touch was real.

She was very much in love.

The irony was that she had never lied during their conversation, nor indeed during any other time since she was elevated to first-class after the Last Battle. She only used misdirection and omission, the same tricks her esteemed mistress always used, and who, being a first-class goddess, was forbidden from telling a direct lie. Halval decided that she would imitate her sensei and do the same, although she never told anyone of her personal choice. Being a demon, everyone had simply assumed she would continue to lie. She had used that false assumption to her advantage many times.

She was glad that her triple-deception had worked, for she had learned something very important from her dear sensei. Lindy had just told her something that she did not know.

Halval now knew that if anyone could empathize with her dilemma, that if anyone could understand her feelings, that if anyone knew what it was like to love someone who was literally unattainable.. there was one man who would know.

One man who might have an answer.

She got up and walked down the hill to the office of the Daitenkaicho.

* * *

**A/N:**

* See _Oh! My Angel Yuko!_. The story is a crossover fic between AMG and _ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two_.

** See _The Realization of Haruki Suzumiya_ , _The Final Act of Haruki Suzumiya_ (still in progress), and _The Memories of Haruki Suzumiya_.

*** It is canon that Keiichi and Belldandy were explicitly blocked from ever bridging the gap between human and goddess in their love relationship. This is why it had stalled out for years. What shocked Keiichi was that Belldandy knew it, and indeed had known it the entire time. See the manga _Oh! My Goddess!_ chapter 285. That big reveal, plus another huge one in chapter 268, made Keiichi finally understand the truth: Belldandy was far, far, above him - as far above him as a person was above an ant. His perseverance despite that knowledge soon led to an ordeal in which they were forced to live an entire lifetime together in the bodies of another ill-fated goddess/human pairing from Earth's history [Chapters 289-293]. Tyr had forced them to live out that tragic tale to show them why it would never work between them, or so he thought. (It's basically the same problem Arwen and Aragorn had.) And yet, because of Keiichi's sheer will and determination to overcome all obstacles in his love for Belldandy, they elected to remain together despite that foreknowledge.

That Belldandy had always stood apart from everyone, even from her own sisters, is rather obvious once you've read all the mangas. Lindy, who is much like Belldandy in some ways, suffers a similar spiritual separation and isolation. The mangas do not (as of yet) explain exactly what the reason is. I will reveal my own theory at the end of this story, where I disclose the real reason behind Belldandy's isolation (it is not merely a mortal/immortal dichotomy, nor her bifurcated existence). I dropped some hints in this chapter. I will drop some bigger ones in the next, and it will be fully explained in the last chapter: **The Five Secrets Revealed**.


	26. The Grand Tour: Prelude

**Chapter 26: The Grand Tour: Prelude**

_Five years later_

Skuld was sitting on a park bench watching little Unn play with Lindy.

Her granddaughter was playing tag with the blond goddess. The girl squeeled with delight as she 'got' her aunt. "Tag, Lindy! You're it!"

Lindy laughed, "Oh no! You're so fast!" Her eyes were bright and warm. The pair continued to frolic in the warm afternoon sun.

Keiichi was standing a few yards away watching them with a critical eye. He was wearing a white artist's smock and a beret. He had one eye closed as he looked past his extended thumb at the playful pair. Then he picked up the paintbrush again and continued to work on drawing Unn's cute pigtails.

Thoriko was sitting next to Skuld. The Daitenkaicho leaned over and said, "Keiichi is becoming quite the artist."

"Yes, he's actually getting rather good." Thoriko was wearing a beige wraparound skirt. By the third trimester her armored battledress had no longer fit her figure. Since giving birth to Unn* she only wore her battledress during the occasional combat op or during official ceremonies. She still continued to wear her golden gauntlets only because they were her limiters. They were hidden under the cuffs of her long-sleeved blouse.

Thoriko crossed her legs as he watched her daughter play. "I admired Keiichi's latest painting of you especially; I think it is quite flattering of you."

She saw the little girl emit another happy squeal as she dodged Lindy yet again.

Skuld replied, "Are you kidding? That painting of me was ridiculous. He made me look like a stupid Walt Disney princess or something."

She asked her daughter, "I don't really look like that, do I?"

Thoriko enjoyed teasing her mother. "That is exactly what you look like in his eyes. He thinks of you as his darling precious princess." Skuld scowled at the remark.

Thoriko decided not to mention to her mother that a few weeks prior Keiichi had drawn a portrait of herself as well. And when she saw it she zapped it with a 500 kilowatt lightning bolt and hissed a dire threat in Keiichi's ear that she would do the same thing to him if he ever dared to draw a portrait of her like that ever again.

Skuld sighed, "Yes, he's a hopeless romantic. He's so adorable that way." Then she leaned in and confided, "I think our world needs more romantics like him, don't you agree?"

"Yes, Mother." Thoriko decided not to make any further remarks on that subject.

Skuld had finished eating her small cup of strawberry ice cream. "Oh, I wanted to thank you again for letting Unn spend so much time with Lindy. They play nearly every day now. It's really helped Lindy's spirits. Just look at them."

"You should thank Halval for that. It was her suggestion."

Skuld nodded. "Yes. I'm so thankful that Halval told us about what was going on with Lindy. I had no idea she was feeling so despondent."

"Neither did I." Thoriko was a bit irritated that a demon had spotted it first, before her own sister or mother. Still, she was grateful for the revelation.

Unn was chasing Lindy in merry circles. The blond goddess laughed exuberantly.

"I think Unn is making her feel like she's a part of this world."

The pair was nearing the lake. The little girl yelled, "Aunt Lindy! Watch me!"

Lindy was happy to take the opportunity to catch her breath. "Okay!"

Unn came to a stop at the lake's edge. Then she extended her arms and concentrated with her eyes tightly closed. After a moment a sphere of water about two meters wide slowly arose from the water's surface. Lindy trotted up alongside her niece. "My, Unn, that's really good! That's the biggest one yet!" The sphere of water floated lazily above them.

Then the little girl giggled as she dropped her arms. Several gallons of lake water promptly fell right on top of Lindy's head, soaking her to the bone.

Lindy just stood there as the water slowly seeped into her dress. Her expression was unreadable. Unn became fearful. She took a step back, "I'm really sorry..." Thoriko sighed and leaned forward to get up to admonish her daughter. But Skuld gently touched her arm to restrain her. "Just wait and watch."

Lindy just stood there in silence.

Then she sniggered.

Then she giggled.

Then she cracked up.

Unn joined in the laughter and hugged her aunt, getting herself fairly wet too in the process.

Skuld tsk tsk'ed. _That girl is so mischievous._

Thoriko felt she needed to apologize on behalf of her wayward daughter. "Mother, I'm sorry about that. I'll talk to her later about being more respectful to her elders."

"Eh, no harm done."

Skuld stroked her chin thoughtfully. "But her sigil still troubles me." Skuld was not concerned because Unn's face had sported the same pair of diagonal slash marks above her eyebrows as her demon father, nor was it because those were also the same marks that her mother had.

What concerned Skuld was the color of those marks.

Unn's sigil was not blue like her mother's.

And it was not red like her father's.

The marks on her forehead were _green_.

When Skuld first saw those emerald marks at her birth it surprised and worried her. Initially she had assumed it was possibly due to an admixture from her parents: the simple interpolation of the component hues. As any painter will tell you, if you mix cyan with magenta you get blue, mix magenta with yellow and you get red, mix cyan with yellow and you get green. So Unn had apparently inherited one complementary color that she received from each side of her bloodline.

At first Skuld had assumed that it indicated that Unn was simply an amalgam with traits that she had received from each of her parents. But Keiichi pointed out that such cross-breedings in the past had always produced a sire that was definitively red or blue, never in-between. Now, it was true that the angel/demon hybrid might sometimes switch back-and-forth between her angel state and her demon state - consider Urd for example - but it was always bimodal. The hybrid's sigil was always either fully red or fully blue.

And then over the years Skuld noticed the color of the marks on her granddaughter's forehead were slowly changing. Skuld finally realized what was happening: the color migrated towards the red or the blue depending on the child's temperament and emotional makeup. Lately they had a bit of a bluish tint, almost turquoise. Unn was still rather mischievious, but she had never hurt anyone with her harmless antics, at least not intentionally.

So it seemed that their progeny's hues would change based on their actions over time. Keiichi said it reminded him of the popular computer video game called _Mass Effect_ , where depending on the choices of the player the protagonist's facial features slowly grew redder or bluer over the course of the game.

Keiichi lowered his artist brush. He looked rather annoyed. "Dang it, I'm not finished painting!"

Keiichi was still only a projection, of course. Being merely a hologram he was unable to interact with the environment around him. Over time Skuld had noticed that this was beginning to frustrate him. It happened whenever he wanted to, say, read a book or use a computer keyboard to explore the Yggdrasil database.

Skuld could have given him permission to borrow her body whenever he wished, but he did that rarely now. It was because he greatly enjoyed seeing his wife from his own point of view. So he preferred to spend most of his waking hours as an external projection. But that meant he couldn't interact with anything.

To mitigate the problem Skuld had designed some voice-activated controls for him to use instead of a keyboard to operate her personal data-terminal. But he was still unhappy about how limited his ability was to manipulate the environment around him.

Eventually she went to work on a new engineering project on his behalf. The result was a unique little device that was now attached to a belt that was wrapped around the waistline of her dress. It looked like a large metallic belt buckle, about the size of a paperback novel. She had to put it there because, although it was fairly small, it was a bit hefty due to the embedded miniaturized nuclear reactor that powered the electromagnetic field projectors.

Skuld taught Keiichi how to operate the field projectors using his mind. The projectors were designed for fine-motor control and only generated about one newton of force. It meant that Keiichi could now lift a pen or a paintbrush, push buttons on a keyboard, even open some doors. It had made a huge difference in his quality of life. It allowed him to take up some hobbies such as portrait painting.

A series of chimes sounded from the carillon tower across the lake.

Thoriko heard it and sighed, "Well, as much as I am enjoying watching Unn play, I need to go to the assembly hall. Business awaits." Thoriko was the current Chairwoman of the Council, whose membership was comprised of all the first-level angels and demons in Asgard. They were still debating Skuld's proposed new Charter.

The debate had been going on for a few years now. The Daitenkaicho was not a member and did not participate. The Council was nominally only an advisory board - its only real power was to ratify amendments to the Charter proposed by the Daitenkaicho, which required approval by a two-thirds majority vote.

In the past any such proposed amendment could only supplement, but not fundamentally alter, the Basic Law of Asgard. But because of the momentous events of seven years ago, Skuld had requested and received permission to replace the Charter with a new one for the unified realm of Asgard and Niflheim.

The proposed Charter was only two pages long. The demons faction had eventually assented after requesting only one minor modification, but it still remained contentious among the old-guard natives of Asgard. So the necessary two-thirds majority had fallen short.

Thoriko stood up and said dryly, "Whatever act I did to deserve this kind of punishment.."

"It's not punishment. Think of it as practice to sharpen your political skills. For when you replace me."

Thoriko was still a bit skeptical about it. "Are you sure? Wouldn't Lindy be a better choice as the new Daitenkaicho?"

" 'Daisekaicho'. It has to be you. And we've already discussed the reason for it several times now: You have the strength and determination to make the hard choices when needed, but you always listen to and consider the advice you receive from your sister and your husband, and that tempers and balances you. And Keld also balances the political side of the equation. It makes you the perfect candidate for the role."

Thoriko was obedient to her mother. "Yes, Mother." Then she sighed, "You do realize it will take a miracle to get the two-thirds vote to ratify your little document."

"I have faith in your powers of persuasion." Skuld crossed her arms. "And by 'persuasion' I do not mean the way you used Mjölnir as a gavel the last time." She was referring to the not insignificant hole that Thoriko had punched into the large granite meeting table, which was was still very visible where she smote it with her warhammer in angry frustration during the last meeting.

"I already apologized for that.."

Skuld ignored her. "Just listen to Lindy and Keld."

"Yes, Mother." The goddess of lightning and wrath stood and kissed her mother on the cheek, then she left.

Meanwhile, Lindy had used her wind elemental powers to blow-dry away the damp from herself and Unn. They were now chasing each other in circles again on the lawn.

Keiichi walked over and sat next to his wife.

Skuld smiled at him. "Taking a break from your art, my dear?"

"Yeah. They're running around too much for me to paint anything anyway."

"Well, that's what little children are. They're perpetual motion machines."

He chuckled as he watched Unn scamper about. "She sure is. What a little squirrel."

"Lindy is doing a good job keeping up with her."

"Yeah, heh."

They kept watching.

Then Keiichi had a thought. Without turning he spoke it out loud.

"You know, I don't think I ever saw Belldandy play with children."

Skuld turned and said, "Oh c'mon. I saw her with kids lots of times. You did too."

"Well, yeah, she watched them play, encouraged them, clapped her hands, healed the occasional scrape and all that, but I never saw her play with kids herself. You know, like Lindy is doing now."

"Hmm, has Big Sis ever just played with kids? Now that I think about it, I've never seen her do that either."

"Did she ever play with you?"

"No, not really." Then she turned and chuckled, "But I was a rather, uh, difficult child, so it's not surprising."

"Point taken. What about Urd?"

"Oh, we played lots of games together. We were sooo competitive. Remember when we got into that huge rubber-band fight**? We'd usually take it too far and something would get trashed or someone blown up. And then Belldandy would come outside and tsk-tsk us. Urd really enabled my juvenile delinquency. Hee hee."

"Don't I know it." Then he asked, "But what about when Belldandy was a child herself? Did she play with Urd? With other kids?"

"Hmm. Well, that was before my time. Let me see.. I know that Urd lived her earliest years with Hild down in Niflheim. When she had grown to the human equivalent of age 6, Tyr dissolved his union with Hild and took custody of her and brought her to Valhalla where he formally introduced her to her new half-sister, Belldandy. Big Sis greeted Urd graciously of course***, but I don't think she and Big Sis ever played together much. Urd was always getting into trouble; she really exasperated our father."

She smiled. "And then I came along. We bounced off each other like the two hellions that we were."

She paused as she recalled a happy childhood memory that involved a jar of peanut butter that she had hidden under a sleeping Urd and the hungry flatulent baby wyrm she lured inside to find it.

"Anyway, Big Sis was a very obedient child, always kind and considerate, singing to trees, healing fallen birds, always offering to help. Any parent would give their eye teeth to have such a well-behaved kid. She's always been that way, you know that."

"But did she ever just play around with other kids?"

"Not that I know of. She might have played by herself, I don't know. But I don't think she ever interacted with any other child goddess except her sister. No, she never played with other children." Then Skuld asked him, "Keiichi, why are you asking about this?"

"I dunno.. just watching Lindy I guess. Look at them. She seems so happy now. And she is a lot like Belldandy."

Skuld looked upon her fairer daughter. "Yes, she is."

Keiichi thought back. "After Lindy came back from Niflheim I had a suspicion that she was feeling a bit melancholy. So as her father I told her she could confide in me any time, about anything. But she never did." He sighed, "She's a very private person."

"Yes. And so was Big Sis."

"I realize that now. If something was bothering Belldandy she'd keep it to herself and not tell me. If I asked her if something was troubling her she'd always confess it to me immediately, of course, but she never volunteered. I think it was because she didn't want to upset me. She was always thinking of others first."

They continued to watch their granddaughter play.

Skuld was thoughtful. "Even Jesus knew how to play with kids. But Belldandy never had that experience while growing up. I never realized that before."

"Huh? Jesus played with kids?"

"I think so, yeah. He grew up with lots of siblings: James, Joseph, Judas, Simon, and their sisters - it was a big family****. As kids I bet they played outside all the time. He really liked children*5. If Jesus was playing with Unn instead of Aunt Lindy, I bet he'd run around and play with her in exactly the same way. But Belldandy never had that human experience, that experience of growing up in a human world with lots of squirrely kids."

She looked down. "Big Sis only watched other children play. She encouraged them, she clapped her hands, she said 'Very good!', but she never played with them like another child would do..."

Keiichi completed her sentence. ".. because she doesn't know how."

Skuld thought, _But you do, Keiichi._

They continued to watch the happy pair scamper about the lawn.

Lindy had tackled Unn and was giving her tickle-torture. The little girl giggled and squirmed.

_Big Sis would never do that. It's just not in her character. She never had that rough-and-tumble experience of growing up in the messy human world like Jesus did._

_And I think she knows it. She knows, perhaps at an intellectual level, that she's missing something, something that she does not fully understand._

While Keiichi was busy watching his daughter and granddaughter play, Skuld touched the spots on her face where the three empty holes had been filled-in on her goddess symbols. She remembered that it happened immediately after she had bonded with her husband. _You completed me that day. You changed me and I became a better person for it. You made me softer, merciful, and more compassionate._

_Keiichi, Big Sis needs you too. But she needs your other side, your fun-loving and playful side, the side of you that enjoys life for its own sake: the part that loves to race motorcycles, paint beautiful portraits, and enjoy loving someone._

_Is that your purpose? To complete Big Sis the same way you completed me? Is it that simple?_

They kept watching Lindy and Unn play some more.

Then Keiichi turned to face his wife of 87 years. He asked her, "When do we leave?"

The question caught Skuld off guard. She thought a moment.

"I suppose we can go any time after the new Charter is approved and Thoriko and Keld are sworn in as our replacements. But as I've said before, I don't think we should leave so hastily."

Keiichi remained silent. Skuld didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking.

Now it was her turn to face her husband. "Keiichi, I've already explained this. The passage of time works very differently up where she is. We could leave tomorrow, or 10 years from now, or 1000 years from now. It would make no difference from her perspective."

"I know.." He looked down.

She smiled indulgently at him. "Big Sis wanted you to live a full and happy life. I promised her that. For you."

"And we have.."

She looked down. "I'm happy too. She's given us both a wonderful gift. I'm very grateful."

"Me too." Then Keiichi asked her a question. "But there's something I still don't understand. How am I supposed to be with you forever and then be with Belldandy for eternity? Aren't they the same thing?"

Skuld gave him a knowing smile. "Actually, they are rather different."

"They are? What's the difference?"

She thought a moment. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain to a mortal.."

Keiich sighed. She had given him the unhelpful response that he had expected.

She quickly added, "But I think that when you and I go on our little tour that you will gain an understanding of the distinction."

"So you keep saying. You've been hinting about this 'little tour' for quite a while now. I still don't get what you mean by that."

Keiichi had access to all of Skuld's surface thoughts of course, but only when he was not projecting. And there were some deep aspects of her mind that still eluded him. Her notion of a 'little tour' was one of those mysteries. Whenever he touched the node in her mind that held that idea, it simply overwhelmed him. It contained a concept that seemed to be beyond the ability of a human mind to understand.

Skuld was indulgent with him. "You'll figure it out eventually. But for now just be patient."

She waved her arm around them. "Look around you. Just look at it all. It's all so beautiful don't you think? In the future you'll think back upon these years with fond memories."

She smiled at him. "This part of your life will be over in the blink of an eye. Enjoy this time, my love. Don't be in such a rush to leave it. For once we leave we cannot return."

"I know.."

"Good, I'm glad you understand. Being a part of the physical world is a wonderful experience. We should enjoy it while we can."

"Then we will wait. Let's relish this time together."

"Oh Keiichi, you do understand." She looked at him with kind eyes. _He is becoming such a wise man._

Her emotions began to well up inside her. _Big Sis, I'm starting to appreciate your plan. He really is growing, maturing._

They continued to watch their progeny frolic in the sun. Then he asked, "And when we finally leave the physical world you'll stay by my side?"

Her face became soft. "Of course. I love you, and I'm never leaving you. Not even after we depart this world forever. I promise." She continued to gaze into his eyes.

_Big Sis, thank you so much for entrusting him into my care. I'll make sure he is ready. I know it might take literally forever. It is not a burden for me.. No.. It is a blessing. We'll go and see places together during the Grand Tour that neither of us could ever see separately. He can take me to places I cannot go, and I can take him to places he cannot even conceive. I love him so much already, and yet I can't even begin to imagine the kind of man he will mature into after.. after.._

She stopped because her love for him overwhelmed her heart.

She leaned in to kiss him.

Keiichi smiled and closed eyes. Then his eyes snapped open again when he realized what was happening.

He yelped, "Skuld, stop! Don't!"

But it was too late. A gentle breeze began to clear away the wall of acrid smoke. Skuld sat up from the ground where the park bench had once stood. She was covered in soot. Her hair was sticking out at random angles like a fright wig due to the residual electro-static charge.

"Argh! I forgot!"

After a minute Keiichi re-appeared. He was chuckling.

"Me too. We were both so in the heat of the moment that we didn't remember about the feedback loop."

Lindy and Unn had stopped playing when the explosion occurred. Fortunately they were far enough away to remain unscathed. Lindy had a bemused smile. Unn was still pointing and laughing.

Skuld sulked on the ground. "I hate you!"

He put his hands in his pockets, "Yeah, this is really frustrating. You gotta fix this.."

Skuld crossed her arms as she sat in the dirt. "Keiichi, it's not that easy. The field generator has to be attached to my body for you to manipulate your projection. But if there is any physical contact while the generator is operating then your projection short-circuits and the field collapses with an energy discharge. We can't have any physical contact unless I can find a way to resolve the issue. And it's not a simple thing to rectify."

Keiichi realized he needed to give his wife some motivation to solve the problem. He bent over and softly whispered some words into her ear, being careful not to actually touch her. Her eyes grew wide as she listened. Then she blushed.

He stepped back with a sly grin. She returned his look with one of her own. "Ooh.. I sooo gotta fix this.. Lemmie think.. grounding won't work.. maybe a capacitor feed.."

Keiichi gave his wife a happy smile.

It was because he was now certain that she would find a way to fix it.

* * *

**A/N:**

_* Unn_ is the Old Norse word for love.

** OMG Chapter 172

*** Season 1 Episode 21

**** Mark 6:3, Matt 13:55-56

*5 Luke 18:15-17, Mark 10:14-16, Matt 19:13-14, Matt 21:6, Mark 9:37


	27. The Grand Tour (Part 1)

**A/N:**

**Note:** Kōsuke Fujishima, the mangaka for 'Aa! Megami-sama' (Ah! My Goddess!), has announced that he has decided to end the long running and beloved series with Issue 308 (Volume 48). The last issue was published in Japan on 2014/05/19.

My thoughts on this surprise announcement can be found at the bottom of this chapter.

The rules of FF state that I am not allowed to post a chapter that contains only author notes. So what follows is an abbreviated chapter for **The Grand Tour.** I will move the rest of the material to the next chapter: **The Grand** **Tour (Part 2)**.

* * *

**Chapter 27: The Grand Tour (Part 1)**

_Time has brought your heart to me_

_I have loved you for a thousand years_

_I will love you for a thousand more*_

* * *

_Thirteen years later_

The gentle giant with the purple-white hair walked in to the office of the Daisekaicho.

As he entered the small office, he saw that the Leader of the World was busy reading a yellow folder at her desk. A seeming mountain of various multi-colored folders were piled up on both sides of her. Her face was dour as she flipped through the current folder and muttered to herself. After several seconds she finally noticed his presence. Thoriko brightened up and said, "Oh, please pardon me. Yuuki Nagato, welcome back."

The tall man bowed, "It is good to see you again, Daisekaicho-sama."

"And you." Thoriko put down the document she was reading and began to sift through the pile of multi-colored folders on her left, old business. She pulled out a yellow folder labeled _Nigihayami Kohakunushi_ and scanned it. Then she folded her hands. "I see here in your report that it was a close call. You almost didn't make it."

"Yes, I was lucky."

Thoriko replied, "Well, luck favors the prepared. Otherwise you wouldn't be standing here right now."

"Thank you for your kind words."

Skuld's daughter waved him off. "You were simply the right man for the job." Then she sighed, "I'm sorry but I need to send you back to finish the mission."

"I understand. But I do not see how I can succeed a second time if I did not do so the first time?"

"Fair point.." Thoriko thought a moment, then nodded to herself. She opened a small desk drawer and pulled out two elegant wrist straps, with a red ruby embedded in each of them. "Here, wear these." As he put them on she explained, "If the Borg capture you again, just slap your wrists together and it will flip you into null space. They won't be able to track you. And if they infect you for assimilation again, re-inject yourself with the Skuld T-1000 Serum, same as last time." It was a defensive anti-nanite serum invented by the Daisekaicho's mother to repel Black Ichor and similar offensive bio-weapons, such as the Borg's assimilation nanites.

"I see. This should help. Thank you."

"Carry out your mission. Good luck."

The tall man bowed gracefully and left.

Thoriko was now alone her in office.

 _So much for old business. Now for the new_. She looked ruefully at the tall stack of documents in the 'new business' pile on her right. _Sigh, time to make decisions again. Where are those two jokers anyway? They're always late._

She waited impatiently. Then she looked at the clock. _I guess I will start without them._

It was because Asgard now ran on a tri-partite system, a triumvirate. At the head was the Daisekaicho, the 'Leader of the World', the person with final authority in the unified realm. Next were the Daiabodaiza, the 'Great Advisors', of which there were always two: one demon and one angel.

The Daisekaicho had default authority in all matters. But as a check on her power the advisors in the triumvirate could overrule her if she disregarded their advice and they were united in their opposition to her decision. This included not only vetos but also the ability to initiate actions or decisions as well. The latter, the forced initiation of action over the objection of the Daisekaicho, required ratification from the Council of the Great Powers, the Daisanji-kai, _w_ hose membership included all the first-class angels and demons of Asgard.

Thoriko picked up the top folder in the 'new business' pile, a green one, and opened it. She sighed as she read it. The problem was more incessant squabbling in the Snowy Mountains between the Ice Demons and the Frost Giants. Apparently a small rogue party of Frost Giants had raided one of the bastions of the Ice Demons. The Ice Demons petitioned the Daisekaicho asking for justice. The Frost Giants claimed the raid was unauthorized and that the miscreants were already punished for it. They promised it would not happen again.

Just then a devil materialized on Thoriko's left shoulder, a mini-chibi, about four inches high. He was wearing a ridiculous Halloween-style devil costume: a red leotard and hood with two pointed rubber horns on top. He was holding a pitchfork.

The demon did a wild exaggerated evil laugh, then spoke: "Punish them! They broke the rules. They must pay for their act! Mwhahaha!"

Then a girl in an angel costume appeared on Thoriko's right shoulder, also four inches high, wearing a long white robe with big gauche angel wings. The wings were made of cardboard and attached to the back of the robe with duct tape. Thoriko saw that the angel had a flimsy halo wobbling over her head, held up with a wire coat hanger.

The angel blinked her eyes daintily, then spoke in a high pitched voice like Glenda the Good Witch in _The Wizard of Oz_ , "Oh dear no! Do not listen to that bad man! You must be kind and forgiving. The bad naughty Frost Giants have already been punished. You must show them mercy and kindness!"

Thoriko rolled her eyes. Then she stood up from her office desk and knocked the two Daiabodaizas off her shoulders.

"Will you two clowns just stop it!"

Her advisors fluttered to the floor, then they grew to their full size.

Thoriko glared at her husband and at her sister. "You two chuckleheads.. just knock it off!"

Keld apologized as he removed the red hood on his costume, "Sorry, my love. It was just good clean fun. It was your sister's idea."

Thoriko crossed her gauntleted arms. "Yeah, I figured that." She still could not believe that between an angel and a demon that the angel was the more mischievous of the pair. It was a quality that she inherited from her mother.

Keld chuckled, "Aw, you know how she loves to mess with you."

Then Lindy, who was still pulling off her cardboard wings, did a mock glare at Keld, "Ooh! You betrayed me! Just for that I won't steal you away from my sister now."

Keld clutched his heart, "No! You promised we'd elope to Candy Land, with gumdrop mountains and an ice cream sea!"

Lindy turned her head away in mock disgust. "Harumph. No candy for you now, buck-o."

Keld fell to his knees, "Nooo... you promised you'd take me to see the peppermint forest!"

Thoriko had enough. "Will you two idiots just STOP IT!"

Her Daiabodaizas stopped fooling around and bowed before her. Lindy said, "Sorry." Then they both sat in their chairs in front of the desk. Keld asked, "So what is on the official agenda for today?"

"That's better." The Daisekaicho sat back down in her own office chair. She leaned forward and handed out the briefs. "The Yggdrasil Mark II just cranked out three green case files and two yellow ones. One yellow might become an Ultra."

Lindy flipped through her copy of the briefs and sighed, "Oh dear, let's hear the potential Ultra first."

Thoriko opened the indicated yellow folder. "It's that messed-up Scorpio galaxy again, some bozo named Grand Admiral Thrawn. He's leading those imperial dweebs against the New Republic, and he's winning. He is a smart cookie, very subtle and very tricky."

Keld was reading. "Yes, according to the file he is quite devious and cunning. We need to be careful with him."

Thoriko nodded, then turned to her other advisor. "Lindy, that's why I want to put you in charge of planning the op to take care of him. He's a tricky bastard. Or at least he thinks he is. It should be right up your alley."

Lindy's eyes glittered as she read the file. "Oooh.. he's a total sneak. I like him already. I think I'll use Halval. She'll relish the challenge."

And so another work-day in the office of the Daisekaicho had begun.

* * *

**A/N:**

* See the YouTube music video [Christina Perri - A Thousand Years (Piano/Cello Cover) - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgaTQ5-XfMM) (4:45). The lyrics to this wonderful music video are hints about this story's happy ending.

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/04/27):**

The English translation for Chapter 305 came out today. There is no longer any doubt. Kōsuke Fujishima has jumped the shark. He chickened out. He is doing a reset. He is not ending the series. [ **Update 2014/05/19:** Wrong! The series really is ending. See the additional A/N update below.]

I am so disappointed. I no longer feel obligated to hide spoilers. (Otherwise stop reading this now.)

 **Spoilers:** Here is what actually happened: Since 2009 Fujishima has been slowly developing the story line in what I believed was its inevitable conclusion. There were only three possible outcomes: 1) Belldandy and Keiichi break up, or 2) Keiichi becomes a god, or 3) Belldandy becomes human. Fujishima had clearly established that those were the only three paths available to them.

The most satisfying choice, plot-wise, was of course option 3. And in the raws for 304-305 it certainly looked like the story was heading that way. It was a beautiful and dramatic way to end the series. After 26 years Belldandy elects to become human and they go riding off into the sunset together on Keiichi's motorcycle. End of story. Perfect.

Except they didn't. Per the English translation, 304 was not a wedding, it was only a relationship upgrade. They still aren't married _even though Belldandy was clearly drawn in an elaborate wedding dress on the cover of 305._ Nothing else has changed. Belldandy still has all her powers. (She explicitly used them in 305 per the translation.) All of the angst regarding the Lake Goddess, of Belldandy pronouncing "I am no longer fit to be a goddess", of Keiichi being offered apotheosis and turning it down in 302, all of that was for nothing. Nothing!

The translated title of 305 tells it all: 'Back to Regular Life'. Nothing has really changed except that the sexual tension got upped a bit. Phooey.

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/05/19):**

308 is out (raw). Oh dear. The raws for 306-7 seemed to suggest that the story was downshifting into a new long slice-of-life arc. But now in 308 we suddenly see the wedding dress on the cover _again_. Something major happens on page 13 involving the whole cast in a big way. The last page of artwork looks.. possibly final. And kinda rushed. It is followed by the very last page: a wall of Japanese text with Fujishima's sig at the bottom with a love-heart hand-drawn like a farewell sig. Uh oh. It is times like this I really wish I knew Japanese better.

It seemed rather obvious where the story was going after 293. It was clearly established that K1 and Belldandy had to become equals for the relationship to ever work. Hence Tyr's interposition and rigging of the tests to dissuade K1, telling him that he will surely die and that the impossible gap cannot be breached. Then (after K1 cheats with help from the sudden surprise appearance of the Lake Goddess) Tyr relents and instead offers apotheosis to K1. But K1 declines the offer (and Tyr broadly hinted it was the correct choice). So the last option was the only one left: Belldandy must relinquish her immortality ("I am not fit to be a goddess"). It was the only way to stay together.

The rest is easy to guess: Skuld and Urd have a sad farewell scene with Belldandy knowing that their beloved sister's lifespan is now pitifully short. There are joyful tears with a tinge of sadness. Then the newly married couple leave Hell and return to Earth to settle down. Hilarity quickly ensues regarding the whole mutual virgin thing during the honeymoon, then she becomes rather helpless during the adjustment period and flusters a bit (she has to learn to dress herself and not just zap clothes on, how to deal with hunger and other embarrassing bodily functions, etc), while K1 - having all the experience of being human- becomes the dominant partner and guides her along as the slice-of-life story continues: They deal with annoying immortal visitors like Hild dropping by and messing with them (think _Bewitched_ ), followed by (optional) pregnancy and birth scenes. Then the story does a final time-skip and end it with a nice coda many years hence. Example: Their now 18 year-old daughter (who discovers she has goddess powers) crashes into some dorky guy at Nekomi Tech. And so the cycle begins again. It would have been a wonderful way to end the series.

But now the rumor is that 308 is the last issue. Boom: Married, The End! That's it?

And so Belldandy still has her powers. Keiichi will age and Belldandy won't. Nothing is fixed. The whole purpose of the story since 289 was to highlight the irreconcilable problems of a mortal joining with an immortal: the problem of his becoming an old man, the immortal's doom of living with an eternity of grief afterwards, etc. This is why Arwen chose to become mortal to wed Aragorn. In the anime _Spice and Wolf_ , Holo realized the problem right at the start, and it impacts her relationship with Lawrence in a major way during the entire series, reaching a climax as they finally approach Yoitsu.

But all that appears to be swept under the rug here. Simply marrying them off without resolving the immortality problem doesn't seem a very satisfying way to end such a beloved and long running series. (It's possible she does give up her immortality during the page 13 ceremony, but it seems awfully quick, and there's no bittersweetness pictured anywhere, and Skuld and Urd don't appear to be shocked or saddened at all, so I kinda doubt it. I still could be wrong though.)

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/05/20):**

Chapter 308 was indeed the last issue of 'Aa! Megami-sama'.

This is a sad day. (H/T to jacoblee0463 and zeroIQ for the info.)

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/06/17):**

The following is a translation of Fujishima's farewell letter that appeared at the end of 308:

_I never thought it could continue for so long when I first started, but thanks to everyone's love, we could get published for as long as 25 years, and for that, I'm deeply moved. As I drew each character, I thought 'I will not draw you again', and it filled my heart with sadness. I hope everyone is looking forward to my next project, I'm really excited about it too._

_Signed, Fujishima Kosuke_

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/07/02):**

Multiple English translations for 308 are now out. Now, some fans have asserted that Keiichi had changed his mind in the very last panel and accepted apotheosis. This was due mostly to an inaccurate translation of 308 where in the final panel Keiichi allegedly said, "I want to stay by the side of a goddess like you forever." In other words, Keiichi had inverted his original wish: that instead he now promised to stay by her, rather then her staying by him.

But in the Goddess Miyaku Team's translation (which I believe is the most accurate one) they translated Keiichi's final words as, "I want a goddess like you to be with me always." So basically he is reiterating his original wish.

The latter translation makes the most sense. Otherwise, for Keiichi to suddenly change his mind and ask for immortality at the last second would have flown in the face of everything that we knew about his character, especially during the Hagall arc, where this was a central plot point, and in particular in 302 where Keiichi explicitly rejected the offer of immortality.

And note the one-word change: not forever, but always. In my opinion this change underscores that it is _not_ forever, but rather always, i.e., for all of his mortal life. Fans are still arguing about it, and it remains unresolved.

We can only conclude that Fujishima, for whatever reason, was either forced, or had wanted, to end the series on short notice, and thus to wrap it up rather quickly, while leaving the story's active plot threads dangling (e.g., Hrungnir and her bots are still trashing everything on Earth) and its main questions (mortal and immortal relationships) more-or-less unresolved.

Well, that just gives us fanfic writers an opportunity to fill those holes, doesn't it? :-)

-HuuskerDu


	28. The Grand Tour (Part 2)

**Chapter 28: The Grand Tour (Part 2)**

_Time stands still_

_One step closer_

_One step closer*_

* * *

The man wearing the tuxedo bowed before his beautiful partner. Then he asked, "Shall we dance?"

The tall and regal woman with the long flowing raven hair did a polite and demure curtsy as she held out her gloved hand. She was wearing an elegant white strapless ballroom gown with elbow-length white gloves. As she dipped down before her husband he took a moment to enjoy her rather impressive décolletage - and to mentally tsk-tsk its somewhat excessive padding - before he took her offered gloved hand in his own.

As the music began he guided her onto the dance floor. He was rather dashing in his own jet black tuxedo with white starched shirt and black velvet bow tie. He gently moved his hand to her bare back to twirl her in a graceful pirouette.

They continued to spin on the dance floor like the expert dancing duo that they were. The other participants respectfully stepped back to allow the First Couple to partake in in the first dance of the evening.

After all, the happy couple were celebrating a rather special and joyous occasion: their 100th wedding anniversary.

Thoriko had the new ballroom constructed specifically for this event, and it was well attended. It seemed as if everyone was there.

Chrono quietly rocked back and forth by herself on the sidelines. She was wearing her own pink strapless gown as she waited impatiently for the customary first dance to end. She sighed wistfully as she leaned into her escort for the evening. "They are so perfect together, don't you think?"

Her escort, Lor, watched and nodded. "Yes, they are."

It was because the Air Marshal had once more resumed her fitful on-again off-again relationship with the tall and tempestuous ice deity. The white-haired god outwardly smiled at his date. But he was secretly annoyed and embarrassed at having to cavort and prance around with the foolish girl in public like this once again. He only put up with her because he looked forward to doing an encore in his icey lair with the athletic girl. And he knew that, after a week or so, he would get tired of her and kick her out again, all while suffering the usual tears and recriminations before the cycle repeated itself.

The music then changed. It signaled that it was now time for the rest of the elegant lords and ladies of Asgard to join the first couple on the dance floor. Lor stood, turned, and bowed deeply before his partner, "May I have this dance with you?" Chrono's eyes glittered as she took his hand and moved to the ballroom floor with him.

The tempo of the music increased and Chrono got busy. Lor had some difficulty in keeping up with the most accomplished dancer in Heaven.

Thoriko rolled into view with her partner. She wore a beautiful black gown with thin spaghetti straps as she danced with her demon husband, who was resplendent in his black-and-red tux. Keld glided the Daisekaicho towards the first couple. As they got within earshot Thoriko said to them, "Mother, Father, congratulations. 100 years." Keiichi dipped his partner again as he replied, "Thank you."

Then Keld spoke up. "We hardly see you anymore. You should stop by the office more often." It was because the elder couple were practically invisible now, having long since retired from public life. There were even rumors starting (until tonight) that they had already departed and moved on from the world.

The Daitenkaicho Emeritus then spoke up, "We keep a low profile on purpose. This world is yours now. This is your time. You know that."

Thoriko said, "Of course, dear Mother. Still we're so happy to see you out and about like this."

Keiichi laughed, "Gotta keep in practice, you know." He smiled and spun his partner away.

Keld leaned in and quickly kissed the Leader of the World, then he led her back into the crowd. Thoriko only wished that her sister was here.

Keiichi then twirled and spun his spouse some more. She did a deep dip into his arms.

The music got faster. They spun again. Then she jumped into his arms for a pair of lifts that he performed expertly. The little walnut sized nuclear power reactor hidden within the waist of her gown was almost unnoticeable as its hum of power increased to accommodate the extra energy requirement.

It was because Skuld was rather unsatisfied that the field projectors she had earlier designed for him were still so grossly inefficient. The projectors could only muster about one newton of force. That was enough for Keiichi to, say, hold a paintbrush or a pencil, but not much more. The rest of all that enormous energy was vented as waste heat along a spool of superconductive wire that had to be immersed into the nearest body of water to dissipate all that excess energy.

It was for this reason that, until recently, the goddess had always tried to remain near her primary element as much as possible. Otherwise the cute little buzzing UAV that floated nearby, and which carried the thermal bulb attached to the end of that superconductive wire, would have exploded within 30-90 minutes or so (depending on Keiichi's activity level). It's doom was prevented only if it could discover a nearby convenient body of water for it to dive into. Skuld wondered why the buzzing little dragonfly always gave out such a contented sigh each time it dove in, as she did not design it to do that.

But recently she had a technical breakthrough and was able to redesign the power generator and fine tune it to allow Keiichi to tap its unlimited energy potential far more efficiently. He could now lift heavy objects such as, say, a tall goddess wearing a ball gown and lift her high in the air. Indeed, as a practical matter Keiichi now had all the physical abilities that he had when his body was still alive, if not more. Well, except that he didn't age, didn't eat, never got tired, and never got sick. _All in all not a bad trade-off_ , he thought.

Skuld, of course, appreciated his newfound physicality for her own personal reasons. As did he.

Skuld had often teased him about it. "Keiichi, why don't you try changing your looks? It would be fun." It was because he could change his projection to look like anything he wanted. He could morph himself to look like, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger in _Conan_ with huge bulging muscles on his physique if he so wished.

But he always said no. It wouldn't be him. He was correct of course. And Skuld had to admit to herself that it was the right choice. His basic honesty and humility about himself and his mortal limitations was one of the reasons why she loved him so much. And she strongly suspected that Big Sis probably felt the same way.

This was why on the dance floor he looked basically the same as he always did: He was short of stature, jug-eared, with unruly hair. Skuld was at least grateful that for today's special occasion he consented to change his projection to remove his usual rumpled t-shirt and windbreaker in favor of a decent tuxedo.

And so, on their iridium anniversary, the happy couple danced into the night.

* * *

The party was over. It was late. One of the moons of Asgard rose high in the starry sky as the married couple walked alone outside near the lake shore. The great spiral of the Milky Way Galaxy waxed gloriously above their heads. They both looked up the majestic pinwheel in silence.

Finally he spoke. "One hundred years. Wow."

She leaned on his arm. "I never imagined this either."

Another moment of silence. Then he turned and looked at her.

She knew.

She waited for him to say it.

The fact that he now continually projected himself outside her body 24/7 meant that she no longer was privy to his thoughts. She could no longer read his mind. Nor could he read hers. This had been going on for several years now, and they had actually drifted apart a little bit, not knowing what the other was thinking all the time.

But she did not need telepathy to read his thoughts right then. She knew.

"It's time."

"I know."

"When? Now?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Skuld had fulfilled her promise to her sister, that Keiichi be allowed to live a long and happy life. She knew that after 100 years of wedded bliss that she had performed her duty, and that duty was her joy. But she was also sad that it would now soon end.

"I'm so grateful to Big Sis. I never expected this."

"Me neither."

He turned and looked at her. "You'll stay with me when it happens?"

She held him. "I promise. We'll go together."

He nodded. "Then let's do it." He looked up at the starry expanse and waved at it. "She's somewhere.. up there. Belldandy is waiting for me."

"I know. I'll take you to her. That was my promise to her, to be your escort."

"I owe you so much."

"The journey is its own reward. I'm pretty excited about it too. She dwells in a very special place, and normally us lowly Asgardian angel-types aren't allowed to go anywhere remotely near the place where she lives now. But because you're stuck in my head, I have special dispensation as your personal escort."

"So do you know the, uh, route to get there?"

She made a sly grin. "Yeah, I do. She gave me a map."

That surprised him. "She did? Really? A map? Can I see it?"

She tapped her temple. "It's up here. Our tourist map."

He frowned. "What? You're keeping secrets from me now?"

She folded her arms in annoyance at him. "Well, not on purpose. It's because you never visit me upstairs anymore. That's why you don't know about it. Come inside my boudoir once in a while and you'd know..."

"Sorry."

She sighed, "It's getting lonely in here without you."

He chuckled. "Well, you sure didn't seem lonely with me last night."

She rolled her eyes at him. Then there was more silence.

Skuld again felt melancholy. It was because she knew their physical relationship was ending, and a new journey was about to begin.

Soon they would become very close, closer than they have ever been.

She said eagerly, "I'm so excited about this upcoming trip. There's no way I'd get there on my own. And even if I did somehow, I'd get instantly obliterated by the sheer intensity of that place. But she promised I'll be safe as long as I'm with you."

"Okay. Let's go. I'm ready."

"I'm glad. I'll start the preparations in the morning. We'll do the ceremony tomorrow."

He hugged her tightly. "Still, I'll miss this. Your face, your touch." He studied her face. "What will we look like after.. you know..?"

She remained silent as her tears dropped onto his shoulder. Finally she said, "Keiichi, I don't know. I honestly don't know what will happen." She gripped him just as strongly. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. Part of me just wants to stay here forever with my dear husband."

He quoted, "'Until death do us part'.."

"I know, that's why I want to stay too." They both knew there was no marriage in Heaven, for it was an institution created only for sinners. In a state of perfect grace it was not necessary. Their marriage would end.

She decided to tease him a bit. "You sure you just don't want to wait a couple hundred more years? You know, maybe just lay on a beach on a deserted island with your smoking hot wife?" She smiled.

"Skuld, she's waiting for us.."

She frowned, "Look, I already told you, time doesn't actually 'pass' up there, at least not like you think it does. A day, a week, a decade, a century, it's all the same. It doesn't matter to her."

"A hundred years is long enough. It's time for us to go."

She lowered her head on his shoulder again. "All right."

Then she pulled her head back and said, "For what it's worth, you've been the most wonderful husband that I could have ever had."

He cupped her face in his hands."Then will you stay up with me tonight? All night? Let's just lay on the grass and watch the stars turn. Let's just talk and reminisce. One last time."

"Of course."

They lay on the grass they looked upward into the heavens together.

And so the Last Daitenkaicho spent her final night with her husband under the stars.

* * *

It was daytime. Thoriko and Lindy were waiting solemnly by the lake shore for the Last Daitenkaicho to appear. Keld, Halval, and the others stood respectfully behind them.

Skuld popped into view. She bent down and kissed her daughters. They both started crying.

She touched their heads. "Please my daughters, don't cry for us. This is a happy time."

Thoriko asked through her tears, "Please don't go.. I need you. I can't do this without you."

Skuld smiled. "Oh now, you've been doing your job wonderfully for years without any help from us. And you have Lindy and Keld. Asgard is in the best possible hands now."

"Mother.. please stay?"

She frowned at her daughter. "Don't make this harder than it already is. You are the Daisekaicho. Be strong." Thoriko attempted to comport herself. Lindy remained silent.

Skuld then raised and showed them her hands. Each hand had a gold ring on it. She removed them both. She raised the gold ring that was on her left hand. "This is Belldandy's ring. She always wore it on the second finger of her left hand. Always. It is the ring of the Norn of the Present. I now give it to you, dear daughter." She handed it to Thoriko, who put it on her own finger.

Then she placed the second gold ring in Lindy's hand. "And this is the ring of the Norn of the Future." Lindy was a bit surprised as she took the ring from her mother. "Why me? I don't understand.."

Skuld smiled enigmatically. "You are the caretaker of the future." Lindy then realized what she meant: that some day this ring would be passed on to the hand of Unn. She bowed to the Daitenkaicho as she put it on.

They all knew that the third ring, the ring of the Norn of the Past, was sadly lost. It was destroyed at the start of Ragnarök during Final Impact. And even if it had somehow survived that apocalyptic event it now lay somewhere in the Marianas Trench under tons of seawater.

Skuld smoothed out the sleeves on her paper gown, then she looked up and said, "Keiichi, come out. It's time."

He materialized. He looked the same as usual in his rumpled t-shirt and wind-breaker. Skuld was a bit put off by his rather unceremonial appearance. He shrugged, "Sorry, I didn't know what to wear. I've never done this before."

Skuld looked annoyed. "And you think I have?"

Keiichi then gave his own tearful farewells to his daughters.

He was taking his time. Skuld appeared to be impatient. She grabbed his arm. The field projectors hummed a bit as they compensated for the grounding effect. "C'mon.. let's get this over with." She started marching towards the funeral barge.

Keiichi grew alarmed. What was going on?

Thoriko lit the torch. Skuld whispered in his ear, "Now look, this is going to _really_ hurt. Our body control might shift randomly so be ready for it. Don't scream. And don't topple over too quickly. Just be as dignified as you can." Being burned alive was never easy.

Keiichi yanked his arm away. "Wait, what? What the hell is this?"

Skuld stopped and glared at him. "You idiot, where do you think you've been living for the past hundred years? This is the Norse pantheon! I'm a Nordic goddess! We burn when we die. That is how it is done. We burn. Alive or dead we burn."

"What, no!"

She grew exasperated with him."Keiichi, you ought to know how this works. This is how we Norse gods and goddess do our funerals, just like the Vikings do."

"Wait! Stop!"

"C'mon, you've seen this all before! You actually saw Belldandy's body burn on a funeral barge just like this one, remember? You saw it youself! This is how it's done! This is how it has always been done!"

"But.. but.. I though we just ascended into the clouds, or something.."

Skuld was now furious with him. "You putz! Figure it out! Yeah, we _die_. That's the point! I'm going to shed my mortal body, then we go on our little trip to see Big Sis."

"I don't understand.."

"So you thought we were just going to float up into the clouds?"

"Well, yeah.."

She crossed her arms. "Sorry, bucko, we don't rate that privilege. Almost nobody does." Indeed, it had only happened three times in human history, and none of those individuals were Asgardians. "I don't rate that kind of privilege, you idiot, and neither do you."

She then grabbed the torch from out of Thoriko's hand. She jumped onto the barge. Then she got ready to light her paper gown.

And Keiichi knocked the torch right out of her hand. It fell into the water. "No! This is wrong!"

"Why is it wrong?"

"Because.. it's wrong. Suicide is always wrong."

"C'mon, didn't the apostle Paul write that 'death was better by far'?"

"No, you misunderstood him. He meant that martyrdom, when necessary, was not to be avoided or feared. But he wasn't talking about suicide! Not like this!"

"Keiichi, there's no other way to get our trip started."

"No, we can't. Official veto."

Skuld was never more furious with him. "Don't you dare! You idiot!"

"Veto."

"Gaaah!"

Skuld teleported away. Keiichi then yelled, "Wait! Let's talk about this!" Then he disappeared as his projection faded away.

And the rest of the Norse pantheon just stood there in dumbfounded silence.

Thoriko finally bent down and picked up the wet torch as it washed up on the beach. She shook her head.

Lindy touched her shoulder. "It's okay. Let them work it out."

Thoriko asked, "But what happens now?"

"You should be happy. I think Mother and Father are going to stick around for a bit."

"But, for how long?"

Lindy took a step towards the water, then turned around to face her sister. "Possibly a very long time, I think."

* * *

_230 years later_

The volcano had erupted unexpectedly. The entire island had blown up, an explosion of several megatons, on the order of Krakatoa or Santorini.

They were both sleeping at the time.

{ Keiichi: What's happening! }

{ Skuld: I don't know! }

{ Keiichi: Are we dead? }

{ Skuld: I said I don't know! }

* * *

_230 years earlier_

Skuld conceded to Keiichi's demand. They they would remain alive and let fate take its course.

After the debacle at the funeral barge, Keiichi and Skuld decided to leave Valhalla. They gave Thoriko and the others a second teary goodbye. Thoriko was told she was now on her own, for Keiichi and Skuld knew they would never return.

Skuld still wanted to begin her 'little tour' and not wait possibly forever for it to begin. But Asgard had no FTL space travel because it was located in the so-called 'Slow Zone'** region of space (same as Earth), so exploring the stars a la _Star Trek_ was out of the question. Instead they decided to begin their tour much closer to home. They would begin starting with Asgard itself. After all, with over 200 times the surface area of the Earth, there was much to explore right in their own back yard.

And so they started their tour right at home. First they walked the 250,000 kilometers to the far north, to the land of the Frost Giants. There they had many adventures. These included a rather close escape from the clutches of the Frost King.

Later they walked the 35,000 kilometers to the far west. There they climbed the Wall Mountains.

On their way they met a strange man who gave them a clue about a glorious secret, so they decided to stage a quest to find it.

After many decades and many adventures they had had discovered the secret of the rokona birds. It was a secret that no one in Asgard had ever known: that the rokona, with their glorious iridescent plumage, were actually angels. Or rather, they were one of the angels' many forms.

The rokona birds were basically 'failed' angels, ones that had hatched from their eggs alone and had not bonded with any god or goddess at birth.

Skuld and Keiichi then learned the truth about the angel eggs. They were actually laid by rokona. Or rather, _the_ rokona, the Queen, who dwelled far far up the Wall Mountains in an eyrie that no god or goddess had ever laid eyes upon before. And so they had found the Queen of the Angels, and had even spoken with her. And they were amazed and fell silent before her grandeur and her knowledge.

And then later they travelled to the south, where they discovered a gash in Asgard's plate that dived deep underground, for dozens of kilometers. It included a weak spot in the roots of Yggdrasil that allowed the heretofore impenetrable barrier to be crossed, and so they literally walked right into Niflheim itself. There they had met Troubadour, the self-proclaimed Daimakaicho of the rump realm that remained, of those demons who for whatever reason had refused or were unable to go up into Asgard to dwell in the light. They spent many interesting adventures in Niflheim, until ultimately Troubadour was defeated. And on that day many more demons crawled out and blinked their eyes in the light and found a new home.

And so this went on for over a hundred years. Eventually, Skuld and Keiichi found a nice deserted island. There they decided to settle down for a while.

Previously, Skuld had sent word to Thoriko and Lindy about where they were staying, and their sisters stopped by from time to time. Eventually, though, to maintain Thoriko's authority and autonomy, Skuld had decreed that any such visits must not happen more than once every 20 years. The sisters agreed and left them be.

But what Skuld and Keiichi did not know was that their island paradise had a dead volcano that was not as dormant as they had believed.

* * *

Keiichi was panicky. { Where are we? }

{ I'm not sure! I don't think we're dead. Ugh, I can't move or see anything. }

{ I'll project and look around. }

{ Can't. The power generator is smashed. I'm pretty busted up too.. }

{ I know. } Keiichi could feel her pain. It was incredible.

{ We're underwater I think. Pinned. And there's tons of rock crushing down above us. }

{ Great, so we're gonna drown.. }

{ No. Water is my natural element. I can stay alive underwater indefinitely. Forever. }

The terrible thought then hit them both at the same time.

{ Oh crap. Crap crap crap.. }

{ Yeah. We messed up. }

It would be a living death. The horror of it began to sink in for Keiichi. { I'm so sorry. I should have let you light that torch. }

{ No, it's okay. You did the right thing. }

{ We're going to spend an eternity down here. Stuck. }

{ Umm.. lemmie go into high gear and think about this a bit. } Skuld revved up her mental processes by a factor of 100. In her heightened mental state she evaluated the situation from all angles. The volcano had apparently exploded, destroying the whole island and catapulting her sleeping body miles away, where it had landed in the ocean. It was then was crushed by kilotons of falling rock. She was horribly injured and immobile.

She looked at her options. She came up with two. First: Wait 20 years for Thoriko and Lindy to return, then hope they could somehow discover their buried location and dig them out.

Keiichi didn't like that option. { You're in such pain.. 20 years like this.. you'll go mad. And there's no guarantee they'll even find us. }

{ Yeah, I know.. }

{ Wait, can't you just speed up your subjective sense of time? } It was a common ability that all goddesses shared. Skuld could just meditate and her subjective sense of time would be altered: weeks, months, even years could pass in subjective seconds. It would be a way to avoid experiencing so much pain.

But there was a problem.

{ Keiichi, I can do that easily, but you can't. You'll feel my pain, every bit of it, for twenty excruciating years. }

{ Do it. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. }

{ Like hell. I'm staying right here with you. I'm never leaving you. }

{ So what's the other option? }

{ I do a blind teleport. }

Keiichi thought about that. { But.. if you materialize inside of solid rock.. }

{ Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm so disoriented right now. I don't even know which way is up. }

{ Take a guess? }

{ So risky.. ugh..} The pain was incredible. It was beginning to fog her mind. { Oh no.. if I pass out.. }

{ Do it. }

{ Keiichi.. }

{ Do it! I love you. We'll stay together. Just do it. }

{ Okay, hold on tight. Here we go... }

Skuld then picked a random direction. She closed her eyes, which was just about the only part of her body that still functioned.

She did the teleport.

She teleported one kilometer straight down, right into the living rock of Asgard, killing them both instantly.

* * *

_Twenty years later_

Chrono bowed and left the Daisekaicho's office. The Leader of the World sat alone at her desk. She still held the red folder in her trembling hand. Chrono's team was unable to find them, nor indeed was there any evidence that the island even existed anymore.

There was no doubt. They could not have survived. Thoriko let the folder drop from her hands, her tears staining its cover as she closed it.

Even the Blue File was of no help. The second to last entry regarding either one of them was the battle with Fenrir 250 years ago. The final entry was of even less help: "And so they lived happily ever after, to the end of their days."

What had shocked Thoriko was that her mother's original assigned date of death, the one that was to have taken place on that day at the lake shore well over 200 years ago, had actually _changed._ Skuld eventually claimed that she had forgotten the exact date herself, but Thoriko had that date well memorized. It was why she wore black during the dance.

But then, at some point - she wasn't sure exactly when it happened - the original text was replaced with the above final line. That was Skuld's last secret: the Blue File wasn't fixed. Sometimes even fate itself can be fated to change.

She pushed back her chair and looked up at the ceiling of her office, lost in thought. On a hunch she unsealed and checked the Blue File again: same text. She didn't read it very often, and she always ordered Yggdrasil to edit out any mention of herself. She knew all too well the perils of possessing too much self-foreknowledge.

But she had to know what happened to her parents. She didn't care about the risk. And so she came to a decision.

She pushed a secret button under the desk. A small hidden compartment opened.

She pulled up the object contained therein, a small crystalline orb, about five centimeters in diameter. It was mounted in what looked like a ceramic plate. She set it before her on the desk. She sighed.. she had never used it before.

She turned it over and pushed a button, then she set it back on her desk again.

The crystal shimmered a bit, then glowed. A small figure appeared on her desktop. The image was of low resolution, about four inches high.

Thoriko marvelled at what she saw.

The creature was made of blue fire. It was an intense living blue flame that was perpetually occluded by the five or six undulating wings that surrounded the central mass, keeping it always hidden. But that fire was everywhere, inside it, outside it, surrounding it. The wings gently swirled and twisted in a beautiful complex rhythm to a melody, a song, that Thoriko could not hear.

It was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.

She leaned forward a bit to address the entity. "Aunt Belldandy? Is.. is that you?"

In reaction to her query the creature rapidly unfolded itself in a complex geometry that made Thoriko's head swirl.

And there she was. It was Belldandy. She was now standing on Thoriko's office desk in a small semi-transparent image. She was wearing a simple long-sleeved green dress and her hands were held pleasantly in front of her. She had a gentle smile. Although her hair looked a bit different than Lindy's, Thoriko immediately recognized her obvious resemblance to her sister.

Belldandy then bowed and spoke with a cheerful voice. "Hello Thoriko. I do not believe that I have had the pleasure of meeting you before."

"Oh.. yes.. Hello, Aunt Belldandy. I am really sorry to bother you like this..."

"Not at all. My, you look just like your sister told me."

"I.. do? Wait, you've spoken with Lindy?"

Belldandy said brightly, "Oh yes! She and I have chatted many times."

"Really?"

"Yes. And we play Mahjong quite often too. She is a very good player. Now, what can I do for you, my dear niece?"

Thoriko struggled to get back on topic. "Oh, uhm, you see, something happened to Skuld and Keiichi. I was, well, wondering if you could please tell me.."

"Yes, they are on their way to see me. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Oh? Oh! I see!" So it was true. Thoriko struggled to regain her composure. "Are they.. are they.."

"Yes, they are both just fine. I really do envy them, Keiichi especially."

Thoriko tightly gripped her desk with both of her hands. "Thank you! Thank you! Uh, did they.. suffer? I mean, are they okay after..?"

"They are both fine. Let me tell you exactly what is happening with them right now. It's actually quite wonderful."

And so Thoriko listened and marveled as the seraph told her a fantastic and amazing tale.

* * *

**A/N:**

* See the YouTube instrumental cover at [Christina Perri - A Thousand Years (Piano/Cello Cover) - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgaTQ5-XfMM) (4:45).

** In this story, faster-than-light (FTL) space travel (a la _Star Trek_ or _Star Wars_ ) is impossible in the regions of the galaxy where the Dark Matter density is too high. This includes both Asgard and Earth, making those places inaccessible to FTL spacecraft. (Asgard is right on the edge of the prohibited Slow Zone region.)

I swiped the concept from Vernor Vinge's Hugo-award winning SF novel, _A Fire Upon the Deep._ I applied the same speed-limit around Earth in my other big SF fic, _The Final Act of Haruki Suzumiya_ (still in progress). The dynamics of the Slow Zone, why the limitation exists and how it works, are discussed in depth in Chapter 9 of FAHS. The crossover of the Yuuki Nagato character from FAHS should have been a clue that the same speed limits apply in this story as well.

[The actual reason is that FTL travel simply makes things way too easy for our protagonists. Otherwise Skuld could easily work around the no-gate problem by simply inventing her own starship and flying to Earth directly. I applied the limitation in FAHS because it sets up major plot dynamics later in that story.]

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/05/23):**

The Piano Guys released a new YouTube music video today, [Story of My Life (One Direction - Piano/Cello Cover) - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yET4p-r2TI8) (5:14). It tells a moving tale that touches on many of the themes in this story: family, love, growing up, mortality, and the inevitable happiness and sadness that life always brings.

The girl with the shoulder-length blond hair in the video looks just like Lindy does in my opinion - right down to her style of dress, hairstyle, posture, even mannerisms: sometimes reserved, sometimes playful. She's Lindy.


	29. The Grand Tour (Part 3)

**Chapter 29: The Grand Tour (Part 3)**

Lindy entered the office of the Daisekaicho. She made a pleasant smile and said, "Good morning, dear sister. It is a lovely day isn't it?"

Thoriko replied, "Yes, it is." Her face had a blank expression.

Lindy looked around but could not find the Daisekaicho's husband anywhere. "Where is Keld?"

"He's not coming in today. Please sit down."

Lindy tilted her head. "But we need him to form the quorum..."

Thoriko had her hands folded carefully on the desk in front of her. "This is not a business meeting. This is a personal one. Just you and me. Sit down."

Lindy noticed that she was not smiling. "Sister, what is wrong? Is something the matter?"

"Please sit."

Lindy hesitated, then she finally sat. Although Thoriko had tried to hide it, she could tell from the Daisekaicho's deceptively calm demeanor that something was obviously troubling her.

Lindy grew concerned, "Please tell me, what is it?"

Thoriko sighed. Then she said the words that she had previously rehearsed. "Lindy, now that Mother and Father are gone, you, Keld and Unn are my entire family. You are all that I have. You are my sister. And you are my Daiabodaiza. That means that I have to trust you completely and implicitly."

Lindy was confused. "I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?"

Thoriko was silent.

Lindy leaned forward, "Did I give you the wrong advice? Did I hurt you? Hurt Asgard? Did something bad happen because of me?"

"No, nothing like that."

Lindy started to think back. What did she do wrong? Ah. Of course.

She bowed her head in shame. "Oh. I am sorry, dear sister. I should have told you."

"That's better. Go on."

Lindy decided to come clean. "I want to first emphasize that Halval has been totally loyal. To me and so to you. She has never betrayed us."

Thoriko wondered, _What in the world is she talking about? I better get this back on track._ She raised her hand. "Please stop. This has nothing to do with Halval."

Lindy silently kicked herself. _Hoo boy, now I've done it._ She waited.

Thoriko finally said, "Yesterday I had a nice chat with Aunt Belldandy. And do you know what she told me? She told me that you had spoken with her before. Many times in fact."

She had surprised Lindy. That didn't happen often.

How did Thoriko know? There was no way for Thoriko to have uncovered her special nature. None.

It was because Lindy knew that she had only ever confessed her unique status once, to Halval, and to no one else. And that was well over 200 years ago. She knew that Halval would have never have betrayed her trust like that to anyone.

No, Halval would never betray her mistress. Especially not after what happened some years later when, in a moment of weakness, Lindy had finally succumbed to the demon's infatuation with her.

It had happened because only Halval had truly understood her feelings. And Halval genuinely wanted only the best for her mistress, to ease her depression and loneliness. Halval had offered to comfort her many times, but Lindy had always politely refused the demon's advances.

One day many years ago, Halval was captured during a clandestine op against Grand Admiral Thrawn. He imprisoned the blind demon in a secret Imperial base and was about to torture her to gain knowledge of her origins and intentions.

When Lindy learned what happened she had dived in to attempt to rescue her imperiled subordinate. But Lindy was captured as well. It was because the cunning Admiral had discovered the true nature of the Asgardians, and by using his access to the dark arts of the Sith he had devised a diabolical method to hold them both prisoner. But after several days of secret plotting in their shared prison cell, Halval and Lindy had jointly worked out a subtle plan of subterfuge and deception to fool the Admiral and gain their freedom. Lindy then quickly returned to Asgard as fast as she could.

But it was too late.

For five days had passed.

And so Sena had died.

It was because the waypoints were interlocked: time moved in forward at the same rate in both places. She could not go back and save her.

Lindy never forgave herself for what had happened. Thoriko and others tried to console her, explaining that Sena's life was originally saved only because of Lindy's sacrifice, that she had given Sena an extension of her life of over 100 years that Sena would have never had otherwise.

But Lindy still blamed herself for Sena's death. She fell into a deep depression.

Halval became very distressed because of her mistress' melancholy. She wanted more than anything to ease Lindy's pain. She genuinely loved her lonely mistress, her dear Daimakaicho.

One day Halval found Lindy crying alone in the front room of her château, near Sena's now-empty couch. Halval entered without knocking, then hugged her poor mistress to console her. Lindy sobbed on her shoulder. Halval told her there was nothing she could have done to prevent it, and that she was not alone. She then gently stroked her cheek with her ungloved hand. And in that moment of weakness Lindy finally gave in to the demon's advances.

She felt it was a disastrous lapse of judgement on her part, and she had rued it ever since, for it had catapulted Halval's desire for her into an outright obsession with the blond angel.

No, Halval would be the last person to betray her.

Lindy then asked her sister, "There is no way you could have known about me and Belldandy. Who told you?"

Thoriko ignored the question. "Why were you in secret contact with Aunt Belldandy without telling me? Don't you think that as the Daisekaicho that I have a right to know?"

Lindy was shaking her head, thinking aloud "This is not possible.."

"Nevertheless. I know."

"Who told you?"

"Belldandy herself, of course."

"Wait, she contacted you? How? From a dream? Or a vision? Or you received it during a meditation?"

"None of those. I saw her directly, standing here in this office, face-to-face."

Lindy grew agitated. She knew that was preposterous. "That's impossible! She would never manifest like that!"

"Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? For Keiichi's sake. She had to stay away. If she started to flutter around down here, she knew it would have hurt him terribly. He would become obsessed with her again, and all his grief and pain would come flooding back to the surface. She would never hurt him like that! She wants him to be happy. That's why she was so careful to stay away from him. So he could live a full and happy life. And Mother gave up her own life to make that happen!"

"Nevertheless, I talked with Aunt Belldandy. Right here in this office."

"In heaven's name why? Is something wrong Upstairs? A disturbance?" Lindy could not imagine any scenario that would have compelled Belldandy to go visit the Daisekaicho.

"No."

"Then why? How? She would never come down here like that. It isn't right."

"I cannot say. It's a secret."

Lindy laughed bitterly. "So, you won't tell me? Well, doesn't that take the cake. Now it seems that you are the one who is withholding secrets, who refuses to talk."

Thoriko scowled.

Lindy leaned forward. "Look, the fact that I am in communion with Belldandy is a personal matter. It is between her and me, no one else. Nevertheless, if you had asked me, I would have told you. Would you permit me the same courtesy?"

She went on. "Dear sister, I have never lied to you. Never. And I never will. You know that. And as your Daiabodaiza I took a vow to always be complete and truthful in the advice that I give to you. That is in addition to my being first class, which prohibits me from lying."

Thoriko countered, "Ah, but you can dissemble. In fact, you are this world's foremost expert in the art of deception, are you not? And Halval practically worships at your feet as your disciple. I still think it is amazing how you managed somehow to never actually tell an outright lie during your reign as the Daimakaicho of Niflheim."

Lindy crossed her arms. "Thank you. It wasn't easy, believe me."

"But this.."

"No, now you are the one who is being evasive. You still haven't answered my question. How did you speak with Belldandy in this office? I have asked you four times. I will now ask a fifth time: How?"

Thoriko looked down. "All I can say is that it was Mother's doing. And she made me promise not to disclose the method to anyone. Not even to you. I have to keep my promise. To her. To her memory."

Lindy drove the point home. "And so now you are the one refusing to reveal secrets. Even when asked directly."

"I'm really sorry.."

Lindy sighed, "Well, I suppose that goes hand-in-hand with the office of the Daisekaicho. Your connection with Upstairs and all that."

"Yeah. It does. I'm sorry."

Lindy stood up with her eyes full of compassion. "Please let me apologize too, dear sister. We are both at fault here. I should have asked for permission from Belldandy to reveal to you that I was in communication with her. As Daisekaicho and as my sister you had the right to know. I shouldn't have been hiding things like that. Not from you."

Thoriko stood up as well. "So this won't become.. a thing between us? Keep us apart? Because now you know there are certain secrets that I've promised not to tell anyone, not even you?"

Lindy smiled, "Of course not. I love you, and I always will." She came around the desk and gave her sister a deep hug, which she reciprocated.

Thoriko looked down. "Thank you.. I love you too. More than I can say in words. I know I shouldn't hide things from you. I'm so sorry.."

"It's okay.."

"No. I need to come clean with you. At least where I can." Thoriko wiped a tear from her eye. "Please, sit back down." Lindy did.

The Daisekaicho then opened a lower drawer and pulled out a page from a document. The page looked torn and was colored blue.

"I have something to show you. I've been hiding it for years."

"What is it?"

"It is a page taken from the Blue File."

"Taken?"

"Yes. Mother had ripped it right out of the sealable document enclosure."

Thoriko gave it to Lindy. The page had several smoothed-out wrinkles, as if someone had rescued the crumpled page and had flattened it out again.

Thoriko explained, "Mother had angrily ripped out that page and tossed it into the fusion incinerator chute. But a corner got stuck just inside the flap of the chute. Then later I was exploring the office while mother was away and pushed the flap open. I found the page and pulled it out. I've kept it hidden ever since."

She looked down. "No more secrets. Not from you. The page is about you. Read it." She pushed the page across the desk, face down.

Lindy hesitated. She knew the perils of having foreknowledge of one's own future as well as Thoriko did. But if her sister gave it to her, there must be a reason. She carefully picked up the page.

She began to read.

She saw that it was a reproduction from a handwritten letter.

When she finished reading, she dropped the page in her lap in shock.

It was because it was a farewell letter.

It was written by herself to her sister.

It was her death note.

* * *

_Twenty years earlier_

Skuld was pinned on the bottom of the ocean bed under under tons of fallen rock. She and Keiichi knew that they were trapped, possibly forever.

{ Keiichi: So what's the other option? }

{ Skuld: I do a blind teleport. }

Keiichi thought about that. { But.. if you materialize inside of solid rock.. }

{ Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm so disoriented right now. I don't even know which way is up. }

{ Take a guess? }

{ So risky.. ugh..} The pain was incredible. It was beginning to fog her mind. { Oh no.. if I pass out.. }

{ Do it. }

{ Keiichi.. }

{ Do it! I love you. We'll stay together. Just do it. }

{ Okay, hold on tight. Here we go... }

Skuld then picked a random direction. She closed her eyes, which was just about the only part of her body that still functioned.

She did the teleport.

She teleported one kilometer straight down, right into the living rock of Asgard, killing them both instantly.

Normally a death like that would be instantaneous. There would be no pain, no suffering, simply non-existence. This was because the brain actually lags behind reality by a small fraction of a second. It takes a moment for the sensory inputs from the body, from the visual, tactile, and auditory inputs, to be processed into sensory data that the brain can perceive in some semblance of awareness.

There is a saying on the battlefield, "You never hear the shot that kills you." That saying was true. It was because the bullet impact happens faster than the mind can react to it.

But when Skuld died, her brain was operating at 100 times her normal capacity.

And so it was not true for her.

She _felt_ it. She felt herself die.

As she materialized inside the granite rock, her brain fragmented into ten thousand isolated clumps of neurons, each encased within a honeycomb of feldspar, quartz, and plagioclase.

And she felt it happen. She felt her neuronal connections shred and break apart.

A brief horror.

A spasm. A short circuit.

Dissolution.

_Discontinuity._

* * *

Disorientation.

There were flashes of imagery. A rokona bird. A clock. A broom. A knife cutting a rope.

A sense of feeling very small.

A void.

Then a woman's condescending voice.

"So, you went and did it. You see, this is what happens when your elder sister isn't around to watch over you. You just get in trouble. Tsk-tsk."

Urd?

"Oh, and by the way your bust is still pathetic compared to mine."

Urd!

"Okay, I guess I gotta give credit where credit is due. You little twerp, I can't believe it. You managed to finally bag him. You were the last person I expected to end up with him. Talk about a crack pairing. Oh well, congrats, I suppose."

More images. The grand palace of Valhalla in its prime. Tyr and Anzus smiling on a golden staircase. The Tariki Hongan temple. Two mice. A teapot.

Then two guys. First a big blond with spark-plugs for earrings and wearing John Denver glasses. The second a huge hulk with black hair and a mustache with bulging muscles. The latter was yelling, "Morisatttooooo! Getting yourself killed like this is an insult to the legacy of the Auto Club! You will explain yourself immediately!" Then the blond guy chimed in, "Yeah, Morisato, letting yourself get killed like that, what's with you, anyway?"

Another shift.

Someone was muttering in front of a flat computer panel. A cat was sleeping nearby. "I don't understand this part of the equation at all. The Pauli Exclusion Principle ought to only apply to non-bosons.. Hmm.."

Shift again. Then more voices.

"Fidgit! Where's the map?"

"Don't ask me, Randall."

"Give it back!"

"I don't have it, honest!"

"All right, which one of your rotten finks took it? Wally? Strutter?"

"Nope." "Nun-huh."

"Og? Vermin?"

"Search me." "Nah."

"One of you idiots stole it! I WANT MY MAP BACK!"

Disorientation. Spinning.

Still black.

Then white.

All white. Everywhere white.

A man and a woman were sprawled out on a glassy plain of white. It appeared to stretch infinitely in all directions.

The man recovered first. He slowly sat up, then he shook his head to clear the cobwebs from it. Then he got on all fours and crawled unsteadily over to the prone woman.

"Skuld?"

Her eyes were wide open, unseeing. He could sense her emotions, her utter terror and fear. She was like Dave Bowman when his space-pod entered the Louis XIV bedroom in the film _2001: A Space Odyssey_. Like him she was shaking yet not moving.

She knew she was dead. And she had felt it happen. She felt her mind dissolve. The horror of it. Something similar had happened to the HAL-9000 computer in that film. She felt her mind going. She could feel it. Her mind was going. Stop, please stop. But it didn't stop. She felt her mind die.

_Where am I? I'm dead. Dead!_

And she was cut off. All contact with the Above was gone. She was isolated and alone. Completely alone. Forsaken.

Ηλει Ηλει λεμα σαβαχθανει!

She felt so small. So tiny. So insignificant.

She despaired. She wanted to curl up and taste oblivion.

Then she heard a man's voice.

She was not alone.

"Skuld, I'm right here. You're okay. I'm here with you."

Who was that? Someone she knew?

She tried to turn her head to face towards the voice. But she couldn't move.

Her mental link to Upstairs was gone. It felt like someone had cut the strings to her body.

The man said reassuringly, "I'm holding you. I'm right here. You're going to be okay. I got you."

She felt weak, so small, and tiny.

She remembered. The voice was Keiichi's. He was speaking to her.

The frightened girl was finally able to utter some words as a hoarse whisper, her eyes still open and unseeing. "I'm so scared.."

"You're okay. You're safe now. I caught you."

She was frozen, her breathing rapid and shallow, like a rabbit crouching before a predator.

"Skuld, it's fine. Relax. You're safe. With me. I got you."

He gently held the poor girl for some indeterminate period of time. How long? It was difficult to say.

He completely empathized with her current catatonic state. He remembered when Eihwaz had exploded his physical body. Their roles were reversed now. He remembered just how terrified he was, how scared and disoriented.

He started to rock her gently back and forth. As he did so he began to softly sing to her the hymn _Nearer, My God, to Thee_. It was the same hymn that the musicians played on the deck of the HMS Titanic to calm the panicky passengers as they boarded the lifeboats. Those brave musicians had continued to play that hymn until the waves washed them away.

He continued to gently rock her back and forth as he sang his quiet lullaby.

Another indefinite period of time passed.

He spoke softly to her, "You're okay now. Just take your time. I'll stay right here and I'll hold you. As long as it takes."

He then quietly sang to her another hymn like a sweet lullaby.

He started to gently stroke her hair when he reached the last verse.

 _When we've been there ten thousand years_ / _Bright shining as the sun._ / _We've no less days to sing God's praise_ _/ Than when we've first begun._

More time passed of unknown length.

Slowly, she came out of her trance.

Finally, she sat up on her own. "Oh.. Keiichi.. Did I..? Did we..?" Then she glomped him with a tight hug. "Thank you.."

He looked her in the eyes. "Do you remember what happened?"

She blinked a few times. She finally came to her senses. "I think so."

He patiently waited for her to continue.

She said, "Uh... I think I tele-fragged myself."

"Tele-fragged?"

"I materialized us inside a solid object. Probably somewhere deep under the seabed."

She gave Keiichi an embarrassed look. "Oh, Keiichi.. I'm so sorry.."

Keiichi said soothingly, "It's all right. You did your best. That is what is important."

She finally allowed herself to smile a bit. "Silly man. Now you sound just like Big Sis."

She looked down and stared blankly again. "I feel so small.. so.. reduced. I think most of my powers were taken away."

Her eyes widened. "Noble Scarlet! She's gone!"

She wrapped her arms around herself. "My angel.. She's gone.."

He got close to her. "She might be gone, but I'm still here. Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

She ignored him as she wondered what else she was missing. "Give me a minute. I need to check myself."

Skuld tried to accelerate her mental processes by 100 times, a standard ability of an Aggregate Principal Representative.

She sighed. Nothing.

Keiichi said, "Try your Angel of Death thing."

She concentrated. "Gone."

"Try contacting me mentally."

{ Skuld: Hello? }

{ Keiichi: Hear you loud and clear. }

"That still seems to work."

"Yeah, at least we are still bonded."

Then she paused. She tilted her head at him. She squinted as she looked at him closely, "Wait.. Keiichi, you look different. Stand up a sec." He did.

She stood up as well, though a bit unsteady. She faltered. Keiichi grabbed her and propped her up. "I got you. Just try to lean on me. Don't try to walk."

Then they both noticed it at the same time. "Hey.." "Wait.."

He said, "Yeah.. your height changed.."

She slowly put out her hand, palm down, and touched the top of his head. Then she moved her hand laterally to her own face. The edge of her palm touched her nose.

Before it had always touched her mouth. "No, it's not me. Keiichi, I think you gained two or three centimeters in height."

"Really? Cool."

She continued to look at him. "And.. your ears are pinned back."

"You mean no more jug ears?" He touched them. "Nice!"

She crossed her arms. "Well, your hair is still a mess. You really need to comb it. You always do."

"Feh, you've been telling me that for 330 years. I like my hair just fine the way it is, thank you very much." She shrugged. _Well, we can't fix everything._

Keiichi inspected more of his body: his hands, his arms, then down his front. "Hey, my T-shirt and slacks!" He was now wearing a white T-shirt and khakis instead of the gray ensemble that he usually wore. The wind-breaker jacket was also gone, and his sneakers also changed to white. Then he looked at Skuld again and motioned. "Look down at yourself."

She did. She saw that her brown sarong was now white too. She didn't like the new color.. "Yuck, white attracts dirt."

Then she sniffed the air. She frowned then sniffed again. Then she leaned forward and sniffed him. She stepped back. "Hey, I can smell you."

Keiichi raised his arms and sniffed his armpits. "Huh? I got BO or something?"

"No, silly. It means you aren't a non-corporeal projection anymore. That is a _real_ body you are wearing."

"Wow, really? Neat!"

She kept looking him over. "I do like your new look. Hmm.. pull up your shirt and let me check that mole on your back."

He did. She smiled, "It's gone." As he turned around he pulled his shirt down. He saw that Skuld's eyes now were boggling at him.

He finished tucking in his shirt. "What?"

"Keiichi.. please pull up your shirt up again."

"Okay..."

"Now look down."

He squawked. "Hey! Where is my belly button? I don't have a belly button!? What's going on? Where is my belly button?"

Then she slowly and with some hesitation pulled up her own wrap. Keiichi saw it. Her navel was still there.

He had changed.

But she basically did not.

She thought a moment. Then she nodded to herself. "And I bet you have no appendix now."

"No appendix? Can I eat?"

"I think so. Although I suspect you don't actually need nourishment. Yes, I think I'm starting to understand this."

"Well?"

"Basically, your new body is now rather similar to an Asgardian's body, someone like me."

"Would you mind clueing me in on what's happening here? This is starting to freak me out." He had previously fought to retain his composure to reassure Skuld. But now that she had calmed down he started to let the realization of what happened sink in, and it was more than a little unsettling to him.

Skuld explained it. "Okay, here's the deal. Number one, we're definitely dead. Tele-fragged. My original body is now laying somewhere under the seabed, fused right into the rock. It will probably never be recovered." She winced. She remembered those last milliseconds.

Keiichi sympathized. "Probably a good thing."

"True. Number two, you my dear, have just been given your new heavenly body*, congratulations."

"Really? It does feel great. And I can tell it's a real body: I can taste my saliva. I can smell your hair. All my senses are back. This is amazing!"

"Heh. You do look wonderful, Keiichi. Really, you do. And each person's new heavenly body is unique**."

"Unique?"

"Yes. Basically you were transformed into your 'ideal' form. It is different for every individual. Apparently for you it is very similar to your original appearance. The only difference for you seems to be that you are a little bit taller and your ears are pinned back. From what I can tell, that's it. Now, for some humans the change can be quite dramatic. Especially if they are elderly or disfigured."

"And no belly button. That's kind of freaky."

"Well, think about it. Your new body was not born from a mother's womb. There was no placenta hooked up to you. Hence no navel."

"But you still have yours. How come?"

"Because I didn't get a new body."

"Hmm?"

"I simply got re-assigned my same old body, I think. We angels don't get a new body like you humans do."

"Does that mean you can go back?"

"No. I still can't return to Asgard." She knew that part of her life was over. There would be no return.

"Hmm." He squinted at her. "There's something a little different about you though... maybe.."

"Really? Ooh.."

She suddenly had an idea. She turned and pushed out her chest. "Hey, I bet my boobs got bigger, right? Please tell me they did! Huh? Right?"

"Uh.. no.. sorry."

She drooped her shoulders with a resigned sigh, "Well, it was worth a shot."

But he saw something else. "Hey, turn around again." She did.

"What's that sticking out of your cloth belt?"

"Huh? Where?"

"There. It's rolled up behind you." He pulled it out of her belt.

He unrolled it. "It's a map!"

They both kneeled down to look at it. It appeared to be a star map of some kind. The background was dark blue, almost black, and there were several small white dots scattered randomly all over it. Many of them had faint dashed lines drawn between them, like constellations. But the dashed lines did not form any stellar constellations that they could recognize.

The map had a rectilinear grid coordinate system that was carefully etched along the borders, giving each point a grid reference. A large circle dominated the map, with what looked like twelve major waypoints, each one positioned as if on the face of an analog clock. Within the larger circle there was a smaller concentric circle. And within the inner circle there were three final waypoints. Two were smaller, one larger. The large one was bluish-white and drawn in a dramatic fashion with a bright white rim encircling it. Several of the dotted lines converged on that particular location. Indeed, it seemed that most of the dotted lines ultimately ended up at that bright central waypoint (although they often meandered quite a bit on their way there.)

Skuld then jumped up and turned around. "Keiichi, quick, search my back. See anything else there?" She pulled up the her wrap to expose her bare back.

"No. Hey, wait a sec.. Oooh.."

She tried to look behind at him. "What is it? What did you find?"

"Your big scar is gone." He was referring to the scar on the center of her back from the huge lightning blast from a magic hellfire lance. It had almost killed her during her joint infiltration op with her adoptive mother into Niflheim***. She was only a child then, and she had barely survived the injury. Doctor Nie later speculated that was how Thoriko had inherited her impressive lightning ability from her mother.

"Well, whaddaya know, it would seem that I got a new replacement body too. This isn't my old one. It's a new one."

"So how come you still have a belly button, then?"

"Hmm. It might be because I was originally conceived up at a higher reality level. We angels are ten-dimensional beings, you see. My theory is that we are probably created up at level 8 or thereabouts. Add up the 3 spatial dimensions with our other 7 and you are up to level 8. That's where I think it happens. It's just my personal theory."

"So how are you goddesses, I mean angels, actually conceived?"

"Well, conception for our kind is always intentional. But frankly how it works is all a mystery to me. It all happens up there.." She waved her hand vaguely upwards, "..somehow. Then we get implanted in our mother's womb down there.." She pointed towards the floor. "And some of us are simply decanted with an artificial placenta. Like I said, I don't really know for sure."

"Okay." He shifted his attention to the map. "So where are we now?"

She picked up the map and studied it. "Not sure. I don't have our current locus for reference. Hmm." She frowned. "It might take me some time to figure it out."

"But I thought you had the map stored in your head?"

"I did. Not anymore. The death trauma must have jostled it loose. Or maybe it is because I don't have my 100X mental capacity anymore. Boy, it's a good thing we have this paper map or we'd really be lost.."

"I bet Belldandy arranged to have it placed on your new body."

"Quite possibly. It means that someone or something wants us to find Big Sis. That's encouraging, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

She closed her eyes for a moment. Then she opened them.

"I see.."

"What?"

"I still have the initial waypoints memorized, the ones that lead to interesting places back on level 1."

"Which waypoints? Where?"

"Mostly around Sol. And a few interesting places within a radius of about 20 light-years."

"Sol? You mean Earth?"

"Yep. I can now take you to the Unreachable Star. I'm guessing we're up on level two. You see, time is disjoint between the reality levels, so we can drop down and visit anywhere we like as long as we have a waypoint to guide us to the spacetime locus." She made a big smile. "You want to see your home again, Keiichi? I don't need this map for the initial waypoints. We can go right now if you like."

He beamed a broad smile back at her. Then he stood up straight and bowed extravagantly before her. "Yes, my dear Madam Ex-Daitenkaicho, please lead on."

She did an exaggerated curtsy in return. "Why, thank you my dear sir." She offered her hand. He took it.

She closed her eyes again and concentrated. Within a few moments a vertical plane the size of a doorway silently opened a few yards away. It lead into blackness. "Behold, here is the portal to waypoint number 1. Shall we go?"

"Yes, let's." And so they walked hand-in-hand into the doorway.

The door promptly slid shut behind them and disappeared.

* * *

Lindy carefully picked up the rumpled blue page and read it again.

_Dear sister, thank you for running the simulations that I asked you to feed into Yggdrasil Mark II. Mother did a wonderful job designing it. It confirms my intuition on how I intend to arrange for things to unfold down there. The fact that all the gates to Earth have disappeared, and yet Niflheim and Valhalla still exist, confirms it._

_And you know most the wonderful irony in all this? When the barriers fall and you become leader of Valhalla-Niflheim, then Eihwaz's prophecy will be about you after all. I'm glad. It will mean that history will remember you as its greatest leader, not me. And that is how it should be. For you are the future._

_It will be a time of great transition, like when the East Germany collapsed and the Berlin Wall fell. When that happened millions of East German refugees streamed into West Germany. When our mansion is reunited, when its Downstairs permanently connects to its Upstairs, it is important that you welcome all those who want to resettle in Valhalla. Some will want to remain Downstairs, and in time some Upstairs might even go Downstairs as well. Let them move freely where they will._

_Be welcoming. Fight prejudices and work hard to integrate our people together. Consider converting the Fighting Wings from a military unit to a civilian police force. Integrate the force with new members from Downstairs, and make sure they enforce all of our laws equally, justly, and fairly._

_Our mansion is now cut off from Earth. That means that Valhalla-Niflheim will now have its own independent destiny. And I'm sure that you will discover it in time. Stay in contact with Above, and remember that all the deep truths are obvious once you know what you are looking for. You can use Yggdrasil for the latter, to get oriented. Then listen with your heart._

_Listen to Keld's advice regarding how to handle the refugees. Be strong, show compassion, lead with love. Don't look back, always look forward, for your desinty will be wonderful. Remember, the story never ends._

_I miss you so much. I'm not sure if, or how, we will ever meet again, as only the mortals were given that amazing gift. The fate of the Asgardians is usually obliteration, unless we are promoted. But in my heart I think we will meet again some day._

_I now know why I'm named after my grandmother. It is because my destiny will ultimately be the same as hers. It is my destiny, not my doom. My time is ending soon and I am looking forward to it. I will embrace it, for it will mean that I will have fulfilled my True Purpose. Don't cry. Please be happy for me._

_Stay strong. I love you. Goodbye._

Lindy quietly closed the page. "That didn't happen. I didn't die."

"No, you didn't."

"But I was supposed to die."

"Yes."

"I don't understand. How can the story change like that? Our ending is already written*4."

"I confess I don't really understand it myself." Did fate change? Was Skuld's act of ripping out the page actually able to change the course of future history? Or did future history itself first change, causing her to rip out the page? How was that even possible? Mother might have known.

Thoriko stood and walked around the desk. She gently touched her sister's face. "It's all right, dear nee-chan. I just want you to know how happy and grateful I am that you are still here with me."

They embraced and held each other for a long time.

Then Lindy finally pulled back and asked, "So what did Belldandy tell you? About Mother and Father?"

Thoriko smiled. "You won't believe it."

"Try me."

"Well, it all started twenty years ago.."

* * *

[A/N: For the remainder of the Grand Tour you should assume that Keiichi and Skuld are using telepathy to communicate to each other whenever there is no air for them to converse audibly.]

Keiichi pointed and asked, "What's that?"

"This is the dwarf planet Ceres. It was formerly called an asteroid. It is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter."

"A dwarf planet? It's not an asteroid anymore?"

"No. It was because around 2007 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) had a little problem. You see, astronomers kept discovering more and more large objects floating in the Kuiper belt, the region of space beyond the planet Neptune. Astronomers have so far found over 1000 of these Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), including some rather large ones, such as Sedna, Quaoar, Orcus, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. That last one, Eris, is actually larger than Pluto itself. So the number of planets in the solar system threatened to grow ever larger: 10 planets, 12, 13? Where do you stop?"

"Yeah, sounds like a problem. What did the IAU do?"

"They busted Pluto down to 'dwarf planet' status. A dwarf planet is defined as a solar body whose gravity is large enough to mold itself into a spherical shape, and it is not the moon of another satellite, but it is not large enough to clear out all of the debris in its own orbit. Pluto is basically just another Kuiper Belt object. A dwarf planet."

"So that's why Ceres got promoted from asteroid to dwarf planet too, because it's large enough to be round."

"Yep. Ceres is a actually a rather interesting solar body. Here, let me show you a slice representation." Keiichi saw a wedge carved out of the 300 kilometer sphere.

Keiichi grew alarmed. "Hey, what did you just do?"

"Relax. I merely adjusted our viewpoint, our perspective, so that we can peek inside it. We can do that because our eyes no longer need to use photons to see."

"So how are we seeing things then?"

"You and I are using a different method. It's kind of hard to explain.."

"Eh, don't worry about it right now. Just tell me what I am looking at."

"Okay. Ceres is basically a dirty iceball, a mix of rock and ice. What is interesting is that it has differentiated inside into a rocky core with an ice mantel. The gravitational compression during its formation was sufficient to heat up the ice layer that it melted to form an internal world-spanning ocean of liquid water. That ocean is full of lots of good stuff: calcium carbonates, hydrates, and other organic materials."

"So, is there life down there?"

"Sadly no. You need an energy source for that, and there's isn't one down there. Ceres is geologically dead. Of the hundreds of bodies in the solar system only five are active*5."

"That's too bad. Hey, I bet one of those is Earth."

"Yep."

"What are the others?"

"Venus, Io, Europa, and Enceladus."

"I'd like to see them. Wait, can we survive in those places? I heard that Venus is pretty nasty. The surface is the temperature of molten lead."

"Don't worry about it. Trust me, your new body is as tough as mine. We can resist things like heat, vacuum, and pressure. At least for a while. And for added protection our dimensionality is now rotated so that we are almost a single point."

"That's good."

"And there is another reason why we are so tiny right now."

"Which is?"

"Visitors like us are obligated to follow the rules for non-interference on level 1. First, nobody is allowed to see us down here. Second, we cannot interact or interfere with anything we see. Other than that, we can go wherever we want and see whatever we want.

She made sly grin. "So, do you want to see some alien life? Right here in your own solar system?"

"Ooh, yeah! Let's go!"

"Okay!"

* * *

They were floating above what looked like a cracked cueball. "This is Europa, the second Galilean moon of Jupiter. It is another differentiated iceball like Ceres. But unlike that dead world it has an energy source. See the crust?"

"Yeah. No meteor craters."

"Good observation. The entire icy surface is continually cracking and being remade, reforged, all the time. It is geologically active and is very much alive."

"What drives it? The energy source? Is it the internal decay of thorium and other radioactives like on Earth?"

"No. It gets its energy from another source, a big one."

"Which is?"

"Tidal flexing. Jupiter's huge gravity field pushes and pulls on the surface of Europa as it rotates. Think of it like the tides on Earth, only much more powerful. Now look here." She sliced the moon open. "There is a 40 kilometer layer of ice that is hiding a huge underground world-spanning ocean. It has more water than all of Earth's oceans combined."

"Neat. Let's go down and check it out."

They were now deep within the ocean. Skuld looked around. "Hmm.. let's see. Ah. Found one. A smoke vent." She translated their position towards it. Keiichi then saw a ragged looking structure that looked like a mini-volcano. It was belching what looked like thick black smoke. Surrounding the vent was a mass of writhing white tubular worms. Some other creatures, white crustaceans, were crawling around the tube worms. They appeared to be grooming them.

"This is a hydrothermal exhaust vent. Tidal flexing heats up Europa's core, and that heat works its way up to the ocean bed through vents like this one. That vent is pumping out all sorts of good stuff: organics like methane and ammonia, hydrates, sulfides, calcium, lots of stuff, all at high temperatures. The exhaust from these vents is over 400C, hotter than the boiling point of water. It doesn't boil because of the tremendous pressure. And yet you see all this wonderful life living around it. They are called thermophiles, organisms adapted to living at high temperatures.

Life bloomed around the vent. Keiichi saw it everywhere: amphipods, copepods, gastropods, annelids, bivalves of every shape and description. But no color. Everything was white.

"It's beautiful."

"Hey, you wanna see a whale?"

"Yeah."

They translated up. "The base of the biosphere are those black smokers. Not all life is limited to those places. For example, there is a creature called the balloon fish that indigests great quantities of that organic black gunk that causes the fish to blow up to several times its normal size. Then they swim up near the top of the ocean and belch it all out as they release their fertilized eggs. The eggs float down with all the gunk. They hatch and eat the nutrient rich cloud as it slowly descends."

She looked up. "But another creature feeds on it. And here comes one now."

It was huge, a white streamlined entity with eight fins. It had an open maw that swept slowly into the cloud of organic material, straining it through enormous baleen gills. It had no eyes.

"Wow.."

"And there are black smoker vents on Earth that are just like those on Europa, with life forms that are just as weird, with whole ecosystems that don't depend on the sun for energy*6. Worlds with underground oceans like Europa are in fact a rather common form of life in the galaxy. It's everywhere. And some of it is pretty weird, let me tell you."

"I bet there's some really bizarre critters deep in Earth's oceans too."

"Oh yeah, heh."

"Cool. Let's go see them! Let's go to Earth!"

She paused. "Earth?"

"Yeah!"

"Really? Now?"

"Yes really. Right now. Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure of our time locus."

"So?"

"Well.. uhm.."

"C'mon. You just told me that we could go anywhere we wanted. See anything we wanted. I want to see Earth. Right now. You promised me after we defeated Fenrir, remember? You were going to take me to the Unreachable Star. Well, here we are. Take me to see my home. I want to see it."

Skuld knew that the travel ban must have been lifted since they were able to enter the Sol system unhindered. That meant that the Millennium must have ended.

Oh dear. She tried to distract him. "Hey, Keiichi, I have an idea. You want to see the coolest, most amazing life form in the whole galaxy? It's actually not that far from here. Let me take you to see Vega. You gotta see the critter that lives there! It's totally cool! The planet Orpheus. You'll love it."

Keiichi crossed his arms. He knew his former wife well. "Skuld, you're stalling. Trying to divert my attention. I want to see Earth."

She sighed, "You do? Do we have to go? Now?"

"Yes."

"Right now?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yes. Right now."

"Well, we can't. At least not yet."

"Why not? Stop stalling."

"I'm not! Earth is the last major waypoint on this level. That means it is unidirectional. From Earth we must go up to level 2, no back-tracking. But I still can't figure out this stupid map. If we jump to Earth without knowing the next waypoint we'll be trapped there."

"Naw, we'll just hang out on Earth for a bit until you can contact Upstairs and get help."

"Uh.. that's not a good idea."

"Why not? We'll just chill in the old temple. I'd like to see it again."

"Trust me, it's not there anymore."

"Ok, fine. Then we'll hang out somewhere else. We'll kill some time exploring Earth. We'll see all of it's interesting places, weird life in the oceans, stuff like that. It'll be fun."

She grumbled, "No. The last thing we want is to get trapped in that place."

"Why?"

She ignored him and started to mumble, "I gotta figure out this map.."

Time passed of indefinite duration.

Keiichi got impatient. "I can tell you're not making any progress."

"Shush. Don't bother me."

"Skuld, give it up already."

She gave him an exasperated look. "I know I can decode this map; I simply don't understand the symbology. If I could just get a toehold, just one clue, I know I can crack it wide open."

"Can't you ask someone for help?"

"Well.."

"So you can?"

"Uh.. there is one other waypoint in my head that's not on level 1. It is an emergency locus in case we get lost during our trip. It's not far up, maybe on level 2 or 3, I think."

"Then why didn't you say that in the first place!? Let's go!"

But that meant that Skuld would be admitting defeat. Her pride would not allow it. "No, I want to figure it out by myself. Look, I may not have many powers left, but I'm still an engineering genius. I know how to read a bloody schematic!" She again started to pour over the map.

Keiichi gently but firmly cupped his hand under his ex-wife's round chin and brought her head up to his eye-level.

"We go there. Now. Then we see Earth. No detours."

Sigh. She knew that Keiichi could be just as stubborn as she could be. And Belldandy must have known he would insist on going to see his home as soon as possible.

"All right, fine, whatever." She rolled up the map and tucked it in her cloth belt. "Next level coming up."

She concentrated and a panel materialized in front of them and opened.

It silently closed behind them.

* * *

**A/N:**

* 2 Cor 5:1-10

** 1 Cor 15:35-44

*** See _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , Chapter 19.

*4 In the original version of this story, Lindy was killed by Hrungnir's suicidal attack in Chapter 12.

*5 I am excluding the jovian gas giants from this list because nobody knows which ones are geologically active, and their cores are so deep as to make no difference anyway regarding possible life on those worlds.

*6 There are places on Earth much like this. Look up 'Hydrothermal vent' on Wikipedia.


	30. Omake: Skuld Gets Lost

**Chapter 30: Omake: Skuld Gets Lost**

I poured my second cup of coffee as I sat in my comfortable roller chair at my office nook in the living room. I was looking at the softly glowing screen of my Microsoft Surface Pro when a small plushie mouse skittered past my feet. It bounced against the back end of the nook, followed quickly by the cat that had just batted it there.

I ignored the cat as it dived in for the kill. It was not because I was inured by a lifetime of living with felines, but rather it was because I was so fascinated by the image that appeared on my screen: I had pulled up the Lagrangian of the Standard Model of particle physics, the so-called 'Theory of Everything' (TOE).

Please permit me to take a moment to explain.

Basically, the Standard Model attempts to describe mathematically the behavior of all of the elementary particles in the universe. There are 61 kinds of these elementary particles in the Standard Model: the six quarks (the components of protons and neutrons) with their three chromodynamic 'colors' and their corresponding antiparticles (total of 36), plus the twelve leptons, including the electron and the neutrinos and their associated six anti-particles, plus the four gauge bosons, including the photon and the gluon, plus the Higgs boson. That's a grand total of 61 elementary particles.

Modern physicists have been carefully constructing the Standard Model of how these particles behave for the past several decades. It is probably the greatest achievement in modern physics. Using the Standard Model, physicists have been able to successfully predict and then confirm experimentally the existence of several of these (heretofore unobserved) elementary particles. The new discoveries included the W boson (the mediator of the electroweak force), the _tau_ neutrino, and most recently (and most famously) the long sought-after Higgs boson.

One way to the describe the Standard Model mathematically is by creating an equation called the Lagrangian, named after the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1813) who first described it. It attempts to represent all of the dynamics of a physical system. Each of the 61 particles in SM are described by a set of terms in the equation for _L_.

The equation does make some simplifying assumptions. First, it is constructed on the assumption that certain basic symmetries are always true. For example it assumes that if you translate or rotate the system (or run the experiment during a different point in time) you will still get the same result within that system. And it assumes the system is invariant regardless of which gauge you select to measure a physical quantity (gauge invariance) within it. For example, if you measure the value for, say, the velocity vector of a thrown baseball, it can be measured in any arbitrary unit measurement system you want. You will still you get the same final position of the ball after _n_ seconds. So if you run the experiment first by measuring the speed of the baseball in meters per second, you can repeat the same experiment with the same initial conditions but use a different measuring system (like, say, furlongs per fortnight) and get the same final position of the ball.

Stated more formally, the Lagrangian of the Standard Model is an equation that describes the local SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) gauge symmetry of a physical system within an inertial reference frame. (Got that?)

These symmetries are very powerful, and they form the basis of much of the Standard Model's predictive ability. For example, rotational symmetry implies that angular momentum is always conserved. Time symmetry implies that energy is always conserved. All the conservation laws of physics can in principle be deduced from these kind of simple symmetries.

The Lagrangian symmetries in the equation are described by five basic groups of terms: 1) the kinetic energies and self-interactions of the gauge bosons, 2) the kinetic energies and the electroweak interactions of the fermions (quarks and leptons), 3) the masses of the W+/-, Z, gamma, and Higgs particles and their couplings, 4) the interactions between quarks and gluons, and finally 5) the fermion masses and their couplings to the Higgs boson.

So there I was, sitting at my office nook, admiring the sheer beauty of the Lagrangian equation. It was remarkable, I thought, that such a comprehensive mathematical description of the motions and energies of the entire physical universe could fit on my computer screen all at once.

Now, the Lagrangian actually has an infinite number of valid solutions for any physical system. To get around that problem, physicists invoke the _Principle of Least Action_. To over-simplify it a bit, it means that nature tends to follow the most direct route to get the job done. It chooses the path of minimum effort to get the desired effect. In other words, elementary particles don't just zig-zag around willy-nilly on a whim. Photons always move in straight lines, balls always move in parabolic arcs, and so on. This is because the Lagrangian measures only the sum of the potential and kinetic energies - momentum is unmeasurable without invoking PLA. Otherwise nothing useful could be predicted and the whole model would be useless.

PLA asserts that nature always chooses the simplest and most direct method to make something happen. It is basically an example of Occam's Razor (don't multiply things unnecessarily). In computer science we call it the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Just then, one of my cats jumped up on my lap. Now, normally I don't allow that when I'm sitting at my computer. But it was Little Nikki, so I indulged him. He's my Russian Blue, a rather rare and expensive breed. Russian Blues are very intelligent cats. But they are more than a little bit neurotic. They bond very tightly with their owner, basically for life. But in return they demand constant attention. And they tend to be very shy and will hide whenever anyone else is present.

As I said, I was sitting there in my nook admiring the Standard Model, one of the greatest achievements of the modern era.

But you see, it has a problem.

Then Little Nikki tried to shove his head under my hands. I absent-mindedly gave him his obligatory ear scritches as I continued to study the differential equation on the computer screen.

Actually, there are two big problems.

Then another one of my cats jumped up, a mixed breed tortoise-shell. Little Nikki hissed at his rival, and his tail puffed up enormously as he started to claw my lap.

Hey! Both of you, get down!

Where was I? Oh yes, there are at least two big problems with the Standard Model.

First, some background. All of the physical interactions in nature are controlled by the four basic forces: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. (The weak force and electromagnetism are sometimes grouped together and called the electroweak force.)

But there are two big problems with the whole thing.

Just then the kitchen phone rang. I sighed and answered it. A telemarketer wanted to sell me a revolutionary new vacuum cleaner. NO! I grumpily hung up the phone and returned to my nook.

What were we talking about, again? Oh yes. As I was saying, SM has a few big bugs in it.

First, the Standard Model leaves out gravity completely. (I am sure that you will agree that is a pretty big problem.) The unification of gravity with the other three basic forces is one of the biggest unsolved problems of modern physics. So far, the conjectured force mediator particle for gravity, the graviton, has not yet been observed. And all signs indicate that it probably never will: It would require creating a particle accelerator about the size of the Milky Way galaxy. (I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon.) Now, more indirect methods are being explored, and some progress has been made in detecting gravity waves, but the unification of SM with gravity still remains elusive.

The second problem is that the Standard Model states that the neutrino must have zero mass and move at the speed of light. Initially, when the Standard Model was first created, that seemed a pretty safe assumption. After all, a neutrino can zip through a wall of solid lead that is a light-year wide without hitting anything. Neutrinos are pretty elusive critters.

Several experiments seemed to confirm that the neutrino did move at light speed as predicted (and therefore had zero mass). The 1987a supernova explosion seemed to be a pretty good verification. That huge explosion had triggered two independent neutrino detectors when the explosion was also observed on X-ray and optical telescopes. The neutrino wavefront hit the Earth within three hours of the light blast. Supernova 1987a exploded about 157,000 light years away from us in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The three hour delta over that distance, when fed into the Lorentz equation, set a hard lower speed limit for the neutrino: at least 99.9999999% the speed of light. Other experiments (such as MINOS) also confirmed that neutrinos had to be essentially massless (or very, very, light).

But more recent experiments now indicate that something is wrong with that assumption. The first major clue that something was wrong was the odd behavior of our own sun, the biggest neutrino emitter in our local neighborhood of space. When researchers measured the neutrino output of the sun they found a maddening energy deficit: The sun emitted far fewer electron-neutrinos than it ought to. Something was not right.

Then the Super-Kamiokande experiment in Japan showed that neutrinos can actually oscillate between their different types. That implied they must have a non-zero mass (and that their 'spin' handedness must be both left handed and also right handed, not just left only). Later on, other experiments confirmed the neutrino oscillations. The implication? The neutrino's mass cannot be zero. Something weird was going on.

I started to wonder about the weirdness of the neutrino. I knew that a massive neutrino nicely solved the energy deficit from the sun, but why did that deficit exist in the first place? Why should the neutrino have non-zero mass at all, I mean, at a basic level? Hmm.. So then I did some quick checking on the Internet.

And then I found it: A nice introduction on the topic for somebody like me who doesn't have a doctorate in particle physics. It was a PDF document entitled, _The Oscillating Neutrino: An introduction to neutrino masses and mixings_ , published by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL dot gov). The folks at Los Alamos are the ones who built and and tested the first nuclear weapon back in 1945, so you know those people aren't cranks.

I then spotted some interesting quotes from various physicists that appeared at the top of the LANL article:

_The creator of the neutrino is teasing and testing us. -Moshe Gai_

_We do not know... [if] neutrinos are massive or massless. We do not know if the potentially massive neutrinos are Majorana or Dirac, and we do not know if these neutrinos can oscillate amoung flavours.. In short, there is a great deal we do not know about neutrinos. -Jeremy Bernstein_

So it seems that we don't yet have a firm understanding about how the neutrino actually works. But, if the neutrino does indeed have non-zero mass, the implications would be _breathtaking_. The rules of symmetry demand that each (ultra-light) neutrino must have a monstrously heavy counterpart particle to balance _L_. Might this be a clue to the long sought-after Grand Unified Theory (GUT)? The one that might finally include gravity? And chirality would imply the existence several new weird particles, like a left-handed anti-neutrino. I started to wonder. Hmm..

Just then, Little Nikki's ears twitched. He looked up. He quickly fled to hide under the couch.

Someone was pounding on my front door.

Argh, I'm busy! Go away!

The pounding continued, so I grumbled and got up and opened the front door. Two people, a man and a woman, then proceeded to walk into my living room without my invitation.

Needless to say, I was more than a little shocked.

I wasn't shocked because my home had just been invaded by two strangers.

Nor was I shocked because they were yelling and gesticulating wildly at me while waving some kind of parchment in my face.

Nor was it because they were speaking Japanese, a language I barely knew, and yet I was able to understand their speech perfectly.

Nor was it because of the incongruity of the pair. The woman was stunningly beautiful. She was wearing a white sarong and looked like a tall Snow White with long luxurious black hair. The short guy looked like a shlub with a rat's nest of spiky black hair wearing a white t-shift, khakis, and tennis shoes.

The reason I was shocked was because I recognized them both: They were the two main anime characters from one of my recent fan-fic stories.

Dang it! I'm dreaming again!

Sigh. I put my hands deep into my dressing gown in resignation. I waved them to come on inside. Let's just get this over with.

Skuld was muttering as she looked at the parchment. "I'm sure these are the right coordinates. Look here Keiichi, the grid position matches exactly."

Keiichi ignored her and addressed me. He bowed formally. "I am very sorry to bother you like this, but do you recognize this map?" He then showed me the map.

I carefully took it from his hands and started to scan it. At first glance it appeared to be star map. The background was dark blue, almost black, and there were several small white dots scattered randomly all over it. Many of them had faint dashed lines drawn between them, like constellations. But the dashed lines did not form any stellar constellations that I could recognize. At least not from Earth's position.

The map had a a rectilinear grid coordinate system that was carefully etched along the borders, giving each point a grid reference. A large circle dominated the map, with what looked like twelve major waypoints, each one positioned as if on the face of an analog clock. Within the larger circle there was a smaller concentric circle. The smaller inner circle appeared oddly damaged: one waypoint, located at about the 2 o'clock position, was missing entirely. Another waypoint at roughly 1 o'clock was drawn with jagged edges, as if it was wrecked somehow. Within the inner circle I saw three final waypoints. Two were smaller: one orange, one yellow.

The third and last waypoint was the most interesting one. It was large, bluish-white, and located approximately at the center of the entire map. It was drawn in a dramatic fashion with a bright white rim encircling it. I noticed that several of the dotted constellation lines converged on that particular location. Indeed, it seemed that most of the dotted lines ultimately ended up at that bright central waypoint (although they often meandered quite a bit on their way there).

In the upper left corner of the map was a tiny set of converging straight hair-thin lines, with little odd symbols beside it. It was a gauge or a scale, perhaps? I saw that a weird S shape curve was superimposed over the set of gauge lines, winding back and forth. It was irregular and looked organic to me, like a twisty snake.

Keiichi said, "This map somehow feels familiar to me. You know, I really feel like I have seen this map somewhere before. But I can't quite place it."

I kept studying it. I nodded. Yes, it did look familiar somehow..

He saw my furrowed brow. After a minute he asked me, "So, do you recognize it?"

Before I could consider his question, Skuld grabbed the map out of my hands and frowned at her partner. "Look, I'll figure it out eventually. Your idea of coming here was stupid. We don't need to talk to anyone. I just need more time to study the map myself."

Keiichi pleaded, "Skuld, c'mon. Admit it. We're lost."

I grinned and said, "Usually it's the guy who refuses to ask for directions."

Keiichi rolled his eyes, "You don't know her like I do, sir. Sometimes I think she's a guy in disguise."

She looked up and narrowed her eyes at him, "Very funny. Har dee har har." She went back to studying the map.

Hmm.. Yes.. The map did seem familiar to me. I needed to see it again. I asked, "Can I please see the map one more time?"

Skuld didn't want to give it back to me. Keiichi then simply yanked it right out of her hands and put it into mine.

Skuld glared at me with a deadly look.

Keiichi said, "Don't worry, sir. She doesn't bite.."

I held the map dubiously. Then the woman actually _growled_ at me. Yikes!

".. much."

I wanted to shove the map back into that little dweeb's hands as fast as I possibly could, before that crazy woman did something horrible to me. I knew she was no longer the Daitenkaicho, nor did she retain her scary Angel of Death powers, but I knew that a short-tempered Aggregate Principal Representative was someone not be to trifled with.

But Keiichi reassured me it would be all right. But I didn't budge. Then after a minute she calmed down. So I sighed and studied the map again.

Hmm.. it does look familiar.

Finally I remembered. Ah! I smiled and said, "This is the map from the movie _Time Bandits_."

Keiichi stopped and stared at me for a moment. Then his eyes lit up. "That's it! Yes! I remember now! I saw that movie! It's the Time Bandits map that those dwarf guys used!"

Skuld said, "Huh?" She must not have seen the film.

Keiich was excited. "The map! It was owned by the Supreme Being in that movie. It opened up secret interdimensional portals. They stole it from him and used it to run all over the cosmos!" Keiichi grabbed the map back from me and started to study it again eagerly.

I was able to glance over his shoulder - he's pretty short for a guy - and got another good look at the map. I tried to remember the map from the movie again. It was definitely the Time Bandits map. But I felt that something was wrong about it. Something was off.

How exactly did that map look again? I quickly went back to my Surface Pro and fired up Google Images and typed 'Time Bandits map' into the keyboard cover. The image popped up. Aha, got it.

I said, "Look here at the screen. It's upside down."

"What?"

"Compare your map with the screen. You're holding it upside down. Turn it around."

Skuld ripped the map out of Keiichi's hands and checked it. "Argh! He's right." Skuld flipped the map around. "I feel so stupid!"

Keiichi asked, "So where are we then?"

Skuld studied it. "Hmm. The grid locus says that we are back on level 3, I think."

Keiichi looked upset. "What, again?"

Skuld looked chagrined. "Yeah.. we're going in circles.. sorry about that."

"Skuld, c'mon, we need to make some progress here. I know the stack is infinite and all, but Belldandy is waiting for us! This is pathetic!"

"Look, I said I was sorry."

"Are you sure we are on level 3 now? Not 2?"

I piped up and said, "Yeah. You're on 3. Definitely."

Keiichi turned, "And how do you know that?"

"It know it because Asgard is down two levels from my position."

Keiichi said, "Two? Not one?"

I tried to explain. "You see, I'm the author of your story. I live up here on level 3. The story, when it is being played inside my head as I fire my electrochemical signals through my synapses from my axons to my dendrite receptors in my frontal lobes, is at level 2. The story itself, the UTF-8 text that is stored in Reed-Solomon encoded data sectors, each with 4096 bits per sector, encoded as magnetic domains on a 5.25 inch aluminum GMR platter that is rotating at 7200 revolutions per minute inside a RAID-5 disk array cabinet that is inside an air-conditioned datacenter somewhere in Los Angeles, is at level 1. That's the base level. You came up from there."

"Mmm.."

"That was a neat trick by the way. How did you do that?"

Skuld made a secretive grin. "We had some higher help. Not gonna say."

"Oh."

She bowed formally and said, "Thank you, good sir. We are in your debt."

"No problem." I closed map image on the screen.

Skuld saw the Lagrangian equation pop up from underneath. It was the equation that I was studying earlier. She tilted her head slightly. Apparently it piqued her interest. Then, without asking me for permission, she simply plopped down in my chair and started to look at it.

Keiichi became impatient. "Skuld, c'mon. We got what we wanted. Let's get out of here."

She waved him off. "Just give me a sec." She turned to look at me. "Sir, what is this on your computer screen?"

"Oh, uhm, it's the equation for the Standard Model in quantum physics."

She leaned closer. "Really? Is this the Lagrangian formulation or the Hamiltonian one?"

"Lagrangian."

She studied it some more.

Keiichi whined "Skuuuuld..."

"Shush. I'm busy."

He flopped on my couch. "I'm taking a nap."

"Fine."

Skuld then asked me an odd question. "Is this a bitmap or a symbolic representation? I mean, can I edit it?"

"Uhm, yeah, it's symbolic. It's the output from LaTeX, an old software program for document typesetting and publishing. I still use it because I'm old fashioned that way."

"Hey, I know LaTeX!"

I was incredulous. "Wait, you do? But it's ancient. Donald Knuth wrote LaTeX way back in 1984. That was 30 years ago."

"You dummy, I came down to Earth in 1988. You should know that. LaTeX was cutting edge technology back then. Keiichi's computer was an IBM PC XT. It had 1 megabyte of memory, a 4.77 megahertz 8-bit processor, an 80 by 25 character monochrome monitor, and a 10 megabyte hard disk."

"Oh, I see."

"Wow, this tablet thingy of yours is totally awesome! A touch screen! And the resolution! That's gotta be at least 1K!"

"It's high def, 1920x1024. And the memory is 8 gigabytes, the mass storage is 512 gigabytes (solid state), with a 2 gigahertz 64-bit processor."

Skuld's jaw practically fell on the floor. "You are [bleeping] me. No way!"

"It's true."

"Wow! And the keyboard snaps on magnetically! This is sooo cool!"

She spun around and pleaded with me, "Hey, can I have it? Please? Pretty please?"

Sheesh. She was like a kid discovering a new toy.

I crossed my arms. "No."

"Aw.. pleeeease?"

Keiichi spoke up from the couch, "Skuld, he just did us a big favor. Don't steal the nice man's toys. Play nice."

She crossed her arms. "Harumph.." She was acting just like a kid.

Then she appeared to finally acquiesce. Meanwhile Keiichi stretched out on my couch and said sleepily, "Wake me when you're done."

She turned back to the screen and looked at the Lagrangian some more. "Hmm. Nice color scheme. Say, what is this last term in the equation for? Down here?" She pointed.

I saw where she was pointing. "That term describes the symmetry relationship between the masses of the quarks and leptons and the Higgs boson. The Higgs is basically what creates mass."

"No, it's wrong."

"What?"

"I said it's wrong."

"You're kidding."

"Sorry, I should be more clear. What I mean is, it's incomplete."

"Really? How"

"Uhm.. How do I edit on this thing?"

"If you don't like touching the screen you can slide your finger down on the touchpad. See it? It's that rectangle down below the keys."

"Cooooll!"

Sigh. I showed her the menu item. She opened up the edit window and quickly typed in the LaTeX macros for the mathematical symbols. Dang, she's a fast keyboardist. Faster even than my 200 WPM.

She expanded the Higgs term, then two others. Then she opened up a whole new line and appended a complete extra term at the bottom.

Hey!

I freaked out. "Wait! Wait! Stop! Slow down! Lemmie see!"

She said, "Okay, I'm done."

I looked. "But.. wait.."

"Heh."

"That's a whole new term!"

"Yeah."

"That means there's.. there's another force!"

"Yeah."

"A fifth force!"

"Yeppers."

"What is it? What's the name of the fifth force? Tell me!" I just had to know.

She looked at me like I was stupid. "Why, the 'quintessence' of course. Duh."

"Oh..? You mean like in that Bruce Willis movie, _The Fifth Element_?"

Skuld glared at me, "No! You idiot! That movie was stupid! That story was based on the ancient Aristotelian model of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. It's all stupid!"

"But your Norse pantheon is based on the same ancient system, right? Your personal element is water, Belldandy's is air, and so on."

"Argh! No! That's stupid!"

Keiichi spoke up from the couch without opening his eyes. "Skuld, play nice."

I had to apologize. "Sorry. My fault. Please explain it to me what exactly you did on my computer. What exactly is this fifth term, this 'quintessence'? How does it work? I mean, how does it function? I'd really like to know."

Skuld said, "Look, it's simple, The fifth force runs orthogonal to the stack of reality planes. It connects the chain of power-sets: _ℵ sub (n+1) = 2^ℵ sub n_. That is how the unit cohesion is maintained between the reality levels. The fifth force ties it all together, it builds the ladder of transfinity, giving it an overall organizing and unifying structure."

My eyes sparkled, "This is so cool.."

"Isn't it? Heh."

"Please! Tell me more!"

"Okay, sure. The stack of power-sets is complete, no gaps. That's a necessary corollary of the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis, by the way."

"Yeah, I already know all about the whole CH thing."

"Really? You know about the CH controversy?"

"Yeah. It's basically an atheist-versus-theist battle, kind of like the never-ending feud between the evolutionists and the creationists."

"Good for you. Few people have made that connection."

I really enjoyed her praise, so I went on. "The mathematicians who are on the atheist side, guys like W. Hugh Woodin, are twisting themselves into logical knots trying to shoot down GCH. They are attacking it with everything they got."

She indulged me like a school marm helping a slow student. "And the reason is..?"

I already knew that one. "They want to prove that an all-knowing and all-perfect God cannot exist."

"Well, good news: They're wrong. CH is true."

I jumped up. "I knew it! I knew it! Is there a proof for CH? A logical proof? I'd love to nail those guys with it."

"Uhm.. well.. I don't know if I should tell you this.."

I got on my knees. I was begging. "Tell me! Please!"

She sighed. "Sorry. It's too deep. It requires a conceptual mathematic framework that goes way beyond transfinite number theory. A human wouldn't be able to grasp it, sorry. The proof's relationship of ZF with the Axiom of Choice is really subtle. Even I have a hard time following it."

I felt dejected. "Aw, phooey."

She smiled. "You'll just have to take it on faith. Heh."

I drooped my shoulders.

She must have felt bad for me. She tried to console me as she touched my arm. "Look, I'm telling you that the Continuum Hypothesis is true. But you'll just have to take my word for it, on faith. Most mathematicians who believe in God - or at least who are positive agnostics who allow that a perfect and all-knowing God might possibly exist - also believe that GC is true. Meanwhile the atheist mathematicians, guys like Woodin, have spent all their lives fighting against it."

"Yeah, that Gödel created a really big problem for the theist side."

"He was a smart cookie. His big gun, as you know, was his Incompleteness Theorem, which he published in 1931. At first glance it looks like a really devastating attack: It flatly states that any sufficiently sophisticated logical system that is both completely consistent (internally perfect) and that can find and prove all its truth statements (is all-knowing) cannot possibly exist. There is no perfect and all-knowing God."

I replied, "It's really interesting how the mathematicians who believe that CH is true have all tended to be optimists, or at least leaned towards neo-platonism, the notion that the universe is neat and well-ordered. Meanwhile the other side is trying as hard as they can to shoot it down."

"Yeah. Our emotions seem to always drive our logic, not the other way around." She looked down. "Sadly, that applies even to us angels."

I understood. "And our emotions drive us in everything we do, even in the pursuit of the most rarified and abstract of all fields of knowledge: pure mathematics." I gave her a wan smile. "Still, what you told me is really reassuring. Even if I have to take it on faith. Thank you."

"That's all I can give you for now. Logical positivism is a noble goal, but the real world doesn't work that way."

I sighed. "Boy, don't I know it. I saw it firsthand when I was the house computer wizard at two major research universities. I rubbed shoulders with some of the best scientists in their fields when I was converting their numerical methods and matrix algebra models into highly optimized code for vector execution on the world's fastest supercomputers. I worked directly with their research assistants, the RAs - basically the grunts (horribly underpaid) - who did most of the real science. From those poor guys I saw and heard everything. What I learned was that science, real day-to-day science, is a dirty business. It's full of agendas, politics, and biases. Some of Woodin's stuff against CH is really slick, but I think it's basically smoke and mirrors to push a preconceived agenda: to tear down Thomas Aquinas, to attack the ideas that spawned the Renaissance - to show that no entity can possibly know all truths, just so that he can kill God once and for all, to kill the notion that any such all-encompassing universal being could possibly exist. It's just another personal agenda. Even pure mathematics isn't pure. It's sad, really."

"Sad but true. Everyone has an axe to grind, including those who stridently claim they don't. In fact they are often the worst offenders. The best you can do is be honest about your biases and not try to hide them."

"Hey, that's good advice."

She smiled. Then she got up and politely offered my chair back. "Thank you."

"No, thank you." Then I stopped and had a thought. "Hey, if you can please stay for one more minute, can you explain neutrinos for me? The current theory is really messed up right now."

She was happy to indulge me further. "Sure thing. But I warn you, it'll probably soar right over your head."

"That's okay. Go for it."

So I then asked about the electron-neutrinos - the kind that the sun emits. Why is there an energy deficit? And I asked her about the oscillations. But I didn't understand her jargon and got lost. Then I changed tactics and I just asked her the basic question: "Simply answer me yes or no: Do neutrinos actually have mass? Yes? No?"

"Yes. It's small, under one electron-volt [1eV], but yes."

Cool! "Awesome!"

"But I am afraid you are missing something. You still have not asked me the right question."

"Okay, what's the right question?"

"I'll give you a hint: the mass is not there merely to balance the energy deficit in the Feynman diagram. It has another purpose. A much deeper one."

Deeper? I didn't follow. I tried another yet approach. "Ok, let me ask why, then: Why do neutrinos have mass? Even if it is only 1eV? A non-zero mass, even a miniscule one, just messes up the whole Standard Model. Occam's Razor and all that. It gunks everything up."

"Very good. You're getting warm. Hint: You are right. It's a hack. Like Dark Energy and Dark Matter."

"A hack? By that you mean it is a special exception to a general rule?"

"Yes."

"What rule? And more importantly, why?"

"Congratulations, you finally asked the right question."

I waited. Then she told me. She said just two words.

I almost fell on the floor.

What?

I said, "You mean formally? Like in quantum mechanics?"

"Bingo!"

I was totally bewildered.

She continued, "I can see that I lost you. Okay, I'll just tell you, flat out: There are some extra state bits in the eigenvector for the neutrino that you humans don't know anything about."

"Extra state bits?"

"Yeah. A hard science-fiction writer named Greg Bear almost had it. He first postulated this notion in his hard SF novel, called _The Anvil of Stars_. The humans in that story cracked the code of these extra state bits, or 'bands' as he called them. And how to change them. Manipulate them."

"Manipulate them?"

"Yeah. For example, did you know that you can flip matter to anti-matter by changing a single bit? The humans in that SF story used that knowledge to take revenge against the super-advanced alien civilization that destroyed the Earth. They converted their entire planet from matter into anti-matter."

"Matter into anti-matter? A whole planet? But.. Oh, c'mon. That violates energy conservation! It's basic!"

"So you'd think, heh. The energy deficit actually gets kicked infinitely down the road, using something like Georg Cantor's method for the diagonalization of infinite sets. It's the same kick-the-can approach that Cantor used to prove that the set of rational numbers and the set of integers are actually the same size."

I was finally catching on. I remembered when every other mathematician thought Cantor was nuts. And he was widely ridiculed, including getting hit with some not-so-subtle anti-Semitism. Eventually his colleagues finally turned around and got on board with his new and radical theory about the mathematics of infinity, that some numbers were literally more infinite than others. And from that starting point he postulated his Generalized Continuum Hypothesis: that the hierarchy of these infinities is neatly ordered and is well organized, like a ladder, going up and up and up. And so, by using Cantor's transfinite number theory, we can escape Gödel's logic trap: God is simply the entity that exists at the top of this well-ordered ladder of infinities, which is itself infinite.

I said, "Now I get it. It's like running up the tab on your credit card and never having to pay the bill."

"Oh it gets paid all right, heh. Just not by you. It's kinda like the United States' budget deficit: At first it looks like free money, but eventually the books must balance. Someone up there must eventually pay that bill. And it's pretty big, let me tell you."

"So who pays it? The energy conservation imbalance, I mean?"

"It's the fifth force carrier that transfers the bill. Like I said, the bill gets kicked upstairs."

"Kicked upstairs? How? Where?"

"I can't say more than that, sorry. All I can tell you is that the debt must be paid. It's a general organizing principle for those folks that dwell up there: that the price, the cost, the debt, must always be paid. Always. No exceptions."

"Still, I kind of understand what you are hinting at. I think. But you still haven't explained to me why the neutrino has mass. You said it's a 'hack', a special exception. Okay, so why does that hack exist?"

"Actually, I already I told you. As I explained earlier, neutrinos possess extra state bits. Information. Think about it."

I started to furrow my brow.

She added helpfully, "Neutrinos can zip through light-years of solid matter like it wasn't even there. Almost nothing stops them. And they are zipping around everywhere at a speed that is only infinitesimally slower than the speed of light itself."

Wait.. "But, Einstein said that's impossible! The mass goes up to infinity!"

"I didn't say at the speed of light, just arbitrarily close to it. And here's the trick: The mass stays constant. That's the rule exception. The hack."

I was floored. I tried to work out the implications.

It was incredible. A physical particle that travels practically at light speed with no extra energy requirement for the time dilation effect! But that meant..

I got it. "Yes! At 99.99999..% the speed of light it can travel millions of light years in a single day. In a single second! Time basically stops!"

"Yes. From the viewpoint of a neutrino, time basically doesn't exist."

"In other words, from a neutrino's point of view, time is.. eternal?" Did I just say that?

She frowned. "No."

I shrugged.

"Time merely becomes irrelevant."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Oh no. No, no. The word 'eternal' actually has a very precise technical meaning where I come from. It means, uh, something else."

I didn't mind her reticence. I was getting the jist of what she was saying. The neutrino was the most common particle in the whole universe. Even in the deepest darkest voids between entire galactic superclusters, where only a handful of atoms existed per cubic meter, over 100,000,000 neutrinos/second fly through that same volume. And trillions of them, nay, quadrillions of them, pass through your body every minute and completely unnoticed.

She said, "Okay, here's another hint to your 'why' question: It is the particle that passively collects information about everything it passes through."

I just made a stupid look. "Wha..?"

"Okay, I'll just tell you. What I mean is, they are used for observation."

"Observation?"

"Yes."

"By who?"

"Guess."

I frowned. "Okay. now you're just yanking my chain." Had to be. I never cared much for mystical mumbo jumbo, even in science fiction. The authors tended to toss in all sorts of silliness into their SF works. Idiots like George Lucas (the Force). Now, there were some SF writers who I did respect - authors like Vernor Vinge and Larry Liven - who at least tried to keep the fantasy stuff a little closer to reality, or at least made it internally self-consistent if nothing else. But those kind of authors were few and far between.

But this was just silly. I said dubiously, "Riiighhtt.."

She said, "Work it out. The time dimension is independent of the vector basis for the force carrier, see? Time is effectively irrelevant. And then look over here. By modulating the fifth force carrier particle.."

Wait. Wait.. "But.. but that factor in the term means communication is possible independent of time! Information can flow outside of time! But how?"

Skuld smiled, "I think you'll figure it out. Eventually."

I shook my head. "No. Now look, I want to keep this on a clean solid logical mathematical foundation. No mumbo jumbo. And there's no way I could solve a derivation like that." I knew that solving the Lagrangian was basically an impossible exercise except for the most elementary of systems. "Nobody can do that. It would take more computing power than the entire Internet by a hundred orders of magnitude. At least."

She had a sly grin. "It's easy. You can do it in your head."

"You're kidding."

"Want me to tell you how?"

"Well, yeah."

She got close to me. She leaned in and very quietly whispered five words into my ear.

I stared at the female engineer. "C'mon. You are [bleeping] me. Get real."

Skuld leaned up. "It's true. That's how it works."

"But that means.."

"Just remember, all the deep truths in life are obvious. Even a child can see them. You just have to know what you are looking for."

My mind continued to reel. "But.. but.. the energy level in that fifth field would have to be insanely huge. The rest mass would be impossibly large.. wait.."

Skuld smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty powerful."

Keiichi sat up on the couch. "Are you two nerds finished yet?"

We both turned and yelled at him in unison: "SHUT UP!"

Keiichi gave us a resigned sigh and resumed his nap on the couch.

I chuckled, "So that guy George Lucas was actually right? The Force is real? Hmm, I bet the force carrier particles must be in the midichlorians..."

Skuld suddenly snapped. The benign indulgence was gone. She got right into my face and screamed, "No! No, you idiot! That's all [bleeping] [bleep]! Lucas was just stringing together some random crap that he picked up in the 1960s from his drug-addled friends at USC Film School!"

She grabbed my shirt at the collar. "And don't _even_ get me started on all that midichlorian [bleep]!" Her eyes flashed yellow at me. Yikes.

I put my hands up in complete submission. "Sorry! Sorry! It's okay.. Calm down, cool your jets. I was just joking. Sheesh. It's just that what you said.."

"That's better." She released her stranglehold on my shirt collar as her eyes faded. "Sorry about that. Please, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

"Don't I know it, Ms. Banner. Chapter 19 was pretty intense."

"Humph. Oh, by the way, I thought that chapter went way too far for an allegory story."

Oh that's just great. Now a fictional character was criticizing my own writing.

She was stepping on my turf. Her turf might be advanced physics, but she was now talking about my own story, _my_ turf. I crossed my arms with a supercilious expression on my face. "Oh, reeeaaally now? Would you please care to explain it for me, Madam Ex-Daitenkaicho?"

Apparently she didn't catch on to my dripping sarcasm.

"Sure thing. Your writing was too on-the-nose in my opinion. Your references to Revelations 19 were way too obvious. I am NOT a Christ analog. Not even close. I mean, good grief."

I shook my head emphatically. "No, of course not! You completely misunderstand the story technique I was using. I was not writing an allegory. You weren't a proxy like Aslan. That's silly. It was a parallel event, see? Parallel to what was happening on Earth at the exact same time, get it? So while everyone on Asgard was hiding and getting zapped (and it was Keiichi doing it, not you, by the way), the real Christ was using the sword of his mouth at the climax of the Tribulation on Earth. Lindy explained it in chapter 13: When the final remaining holdouts of the nation of Israel are standing all alone on top of the hill of Har-Meggido north of Tel Aviv, surrounded on all sides, and about to be wiped out completely, Christ suddenly returns at the last moment and obliterates all the surrounding enemies. They try to run and hide, but He finds them all and nails them." [Rev 6:15-17]

"So who do I represent, then?"

"Oh, c'mon, it's obvious. I mean, talk about being on-the-nose. I was punching that nose with a sledgehammer during the whole story. You are, or rather were, the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse: the death rider. Look, in Revelations 6 there are four riders who appear in quick succession, each riding a different colored horse: white (world conquest), followed by red (war and anarchy), black (economic scarcity), and finally pale (starvation and death). It's a summary of events leading into the Tribulation."

"I get it. Sleipnir was the pale horse, literally. He's always described in ancient Norse legends as a pale or gray horse, the harbinger of death."

"Yeah. The coincidence was too good to pass up."

Then Keiichi sat up again. "You done yet?"

Skuld got up from my chair and pushed out the wrinkles from her white sarong, "Yeah, I think we're about done here."

He started to pester her about getting a pizza.

Meanwhile I turned back to the computer screen. I marvelled again at Skuld's incredible additions to the Standard Model. I leaned forwards eagerly towards the screen and studied the modified differential equations some more. It was so fascinating. A fifth force. A communication channel. A particle that sees everything, that knows everything, that operates beyond time itself. Wow.. it was just, wow.

And the five words she whispered in my ear, that was the most amazing thing of all.

I continued to think out loud. "Hmm.. the force carrier for the fifth force can't possibly be a real particle. No way. That's silly. But hey, wait, if it was always a 'virtual' particle, you know, merely an abstraction, like, say, when the photon is behaving as an electromagnetic wave and not as a quantum particle (like in Maxwell's classic equations), then it just might possibly.."

Skuld heard me and spoke up. "No. You're on the wrong track."

"Mmm?"

"You're going about it the wrong way."

"Really? What I am doing wrong?

"Don't overthink it. Remember the Principle of Least Action? God is an elegant minimalist, always choosing the path of minimum effort to get the desired effect. It's why He only told 12 guys. It was all that was required. So don't get obsessed with the mathematics."

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, don't obsess on the esoterics. See Matthew 7:7-8. Remember, ultimately it's all really simple."

"Uhm, okay.." I'd have to look up that verse later.

"Just remember that everything is obvious." She gave me an enigmatic smile. "In fact, you can figure it all out just by looking out your window."

"Okaay.."

Keiichi was standing. "I want pizza. Now."

Skuld rolled up the map and stuffed it in the cloth belt of her sarong. "Yeah, I'm starving."

"Good. I saw a pizza place around the corner from here. Let's go."

I said, "No! You cannot go outside to get a pizza!"

"Why not?"

"Because look at you! You are a pair of anime characters! You're two-dimensional!"

Skuld walked back and grabbed my collar again. "Hey! Just who do you think you are calling two-dimensional? You want to feel my two-dimensional fist in your face?"

"Sorry, sorry.. What I mean is, you will frighten people out there."

Keiichi said to his former wife, "Don't listen to him. He thinks this is all just a dream."

"Well of course he does. This is a set intersection. Happens a lot. Our power-set stack intersected with his own in his dream state level. Ever see the movie _Inception_?"

"Yeah, that was a good flick. Four dream levels."

"Wrong, bucko. That story operated on at least _seven_ levels of reality by my count."

"Seven? You mean four. Mr. Cobb went down four levels."

"No, there were at least seven levels in that film. Maybe more. Watch the movie again. Some of it was pretty subtle."

"Don't care. I'm hungry. Pizza."

She suddenly had a thought. "Wait.. he's dreaming.. that means.."

Her eyes widened "He's dreaming! That means we are on level 2! Not 3! We dropped back down to 2! Argh!"

Keiichi shrugged, "I don't care. I still want that pizza."

Keiichi then picked up my pocketbook that was sitting next to my Surface Pro. He pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

I said, "Hey! Stop that!"

"Look, I'm hungry."

Skuld sighed. Then she got close to him and whispered, "Hey, grab some extra bucks for some more pies to go, will ya?"

"Six?"

"Yeah."

"I better take $80 then."

I said, "Hey! That's my money!"

It was Keiichi's turn to get into my face. "Look, mister, I haven't eaten anything in 330 years. I dream of pizza. I fantasize about it. I saw that Papa Murphys place on the way over here. We are getting some pizzas. Right. Now."

I floundered helplessly. "But.. It's Papa Murphys.. they're not baked.."

"I know that, you idiot. That's why we're gonna come back and use your oven."

"What? Hey!"

"Don't worry. We'll bake just two pies and we'll keep the other four uncooked until later. No telling what kind of total weirdness we'll hit on the higher reality levels. This might be my only opportunity in all eternity to get a pizza."

Skuld scowled and quickly corrected him, "Hey, Keiichi, get it right. It's 'forever', not, 'eternity'. You know how that really annoys me."

"Sorry. Can you explain the difference again?"

"I told you ten times! Look, the difference is.."

They kept bickering as they walked out the door.

Whatever. I ran back to my chair to study the screen some more. I couldn't believe it. A fifth force, extra terms, hidden channels that used neutrinos to observe everything. Privileged bits in the eigenstate vectors.. It was all wow, just wow.

Hey, you know I bet I could get a Nobel Prize for this stuff! Yeah! I carefully moved my finger to touch the 'Save' button on the touchscreen..

And then my bedroom alarm went off.

I woke up.

Argh! No!

I grabbed a pen and paper from the nightstand. What was the formula again? No, gotta remember..

It was no use. It had slipped from my mind like the morning dew.

I rubbed my eyes. Dang it! It was all there! I had it right in front of me!

Phooey.

I sighed and put on my bathrobe. I went to the kitchen, made some coffee, then shambled over to the office nook and sat in front of my Surface Pro.

I went to the Bible Gateway website and looked up Matthew 7:7-8.

Ah. I see.

Oh well, Skuld was probably right. I was overthinking it. And it was all just a dream anyway.

Had to be.

Then I remembered her five whispered words.

I wondered.

So I tried it.

And you know what? It worked.

She was right.

It was that simple.


	31. Nothing is Everything

**Chapter 31: Nothing Is Everything**

The tall main with the purple-white hair entered the Daisekaicho's office.

Thoriko closed a yellow briefing folder and looked up, "Yuuki Nagato, welcome back. Congratulations on the success of your latest mission."

The man bowed formally and then spoke softly, "Thank you, Daisekaicho-sama Thoriko."

Thoriko stretched a bit as she leaned back in her desk chair. She then placed her hands behind her head to self-massage the kinks out of her stiffening neck. _So many folders to read. So many needs._

The man quietly waited for Thoriko to complete her afternoon ritual.

Then she leaned back forward and rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, I'm a bit tired. So what brings you to my office? I didn't summon you. Are you looking for another mission?"

"No. I am here merely to return the items that you had loaned to me. They were quite useful, thank you." He returned the pair of jeweled wrist straps.

As she collected them, Nagato noticed that the Leader of the World had a twinkle in her eye. "It's just as well. Your coming here is quite the coincidence. As a matter of fact I was just about to summon you."

"You were? A new mission?"

"Yes." She was now grinning from ear to ear.

He again waited placidly. He felt that her huge grin was inappropriate for someone in such a high and lofty position. _That smile does not look good on her features. Her face is simply not built for it._

Then she dropped the smile and became serious. She looked at him sympathetically.

"First of all, allow me to again express my condolences regarding the tragic event that happened during your mission to K-145-Q-561. Your existence there was completely erased. I know that in many ways it is a fate worse than death."

The tall man replied impassively, "It could not be helped. It was inevitable."

"Still, you did your duty well. You saved your charge from non-existence, thereby fulfilling your mission. And under very difficult circumstances I might add. You are to be commended. I take it she was the only survivor?"

"Unfortunately yes. It was all I could do."

"Well, you did your best. I know you cared for her a great deal."

"I did. I regret that I only had time to gather sufficient energy from M31's central blackhole accretion disk to send one person through the hyperspace conduit. I could save only one person. So I chose her."

"And so you did. You saved her. There was nothing more that you could have done. So no other regrets, then?"

"No..."

She heard the slight waver of uncertainty in his voice. _Hmm, this isn't like him._

His eyes looked down at the floor. "I only wished.. I only wished I could have seen Joanne again one last time, before I ceased to exist."

It was the first time Thoriko had ever seen an emotion flicker across his normally placid face.

Thoriko's eyes twinkled again. He didn't see it. "Perhaps you will."

His eyes continued to look down. "I know. After she dies it is possible that I might be allowed to visit her. It will depend upon.."

She raised her hands quickly, "No no, not like that!"

"Yes?"

"Nagato, I have some good news for you."

He waited again for her to continue. She again sported that silly smile. So undignified.

She folded her hands. "I checked the Blue File. There was an update. You, good sir, are going back. She will be the catalyst for your return."

"I don't understand?"

She leaned forward. "Nagato, you will see her again. Down there. And very much alive."

The normally reserved man was startled for the first time in centuries. "I.. we.. will meet again?"

"Oh yes. You will. On Earth."

"Wonderful! But how? Universe K-145-Q-561 is gone."

"A proposed solution originated from level 1 at locus K-145-Q-562. It was communicated up to level 3, which approved it. It was then sent down to me."

Thoriko explained the intricate solution to Kohakunushi.

"Ingenious. Who thought of it?"

She flipped through the folder. "Hmm, it looks like it was a female time traveller who proposed the solution. But ironically it doesn't involve time travel at all. Anyway, you will resume your duty at the indicated spacetime rendezvous point. It's an Ultra." She gave him the red folder.

"Understood. And.. and please, thank you." Did his hand have a slight tremble when he took the folder?

She continued to smile. "It's the least we could do. You take care of that girl. That's an order."

"I.. I will, always."

"I am certain you will."

Then for the first time Thoriko saw that the man actually *smiled*. "Thank.. thank you. Thank you so much!"

She thought, _Hmm, that smile does not look good on him. No, it doesn't look good on him at all._

She picked a random folder, opened it, and pretended to read it while hiding her face. "Yes, well, very good. Now, if you will excuse me I'm quite busy. So best of luck. You are dismissed."

"I.. yes.. of course. And again, thank you."

From behind the folder she waved him off. "Just do your duty."

"I will."

The tall man bowed gracefully and left.

Thoriko peeked from behind the folder as she wiped a happy tear from her eye.

_He's a lucky man. And she's a lucky girl._

_I can only hope and pray that Mother and Father's ending will be as happy._

* * *

Skuld continued to study the map. She muttered, "That was so embarrassing."

Keiichi chuckled, "Yeah. Boy, for an engineering genius you really flubbed that one. 'I know how to read a bloody schematic!' Heh. Maybe you should go back to Angel College for some remedial lessons in map reading."

"Grr.. shut up. And what about you? You saw that map before, and you didn't catch it either, bozo."

"Well, let's save the recriminations for later. I just want to see Earth."

She looked up from the map. Her expression was unreadable.

Keiichi was impatient. "C'mon, you got the map figured out, so let's go already!"

"But we're at Vega now." It was the closest waypoint down from level 2. She pointed down at the gorgeous blue water-world that they were floating above.

"Skuld..."

"Don't you want to see Orpheus first? Since we're here, why not check it out? It's super cool."

"You're just determined to drag this out, aren't you?"

"It'll go quick. You'll love it."

He decided that he had no choice but to indulge the lady engineer one more time. "All right, Skuld. But then we go directly to Earth. No more detours. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Then let's hurry. The glare from that sun is going to give me a headache."

"Not surprising." It was because Vega was a massive blue type A0V star that was 60 times brighter than Sol. "Vega is a nasty sun, quite violent, with major X-class solar prominences shooting off all the time." It was one of the brightest stars in Earth's sky, and 13,000 years ago it was Earth's pole star. "That puppy is burning its hydrogen reserves like a drunken sailor. It will only live 900 million years, about one-tenth of Sol's expected lifetime."

She gestured at the blue world below them. "This is Orpheus, the only inhabited planet. It is mostly a water world and is rather larger than Earth, with only a few ridged spines of land separating the two main oceans. There is no protective ozone layer so the land surface is sleeted with heavy ionizing radiation from Vega, making it completely sterile."

Skuld translated them down to an altitude of about 20km. "Orpheus has only a single life form, an aquatic one."

Then she modulated the view to strip away the top kilometer of ocean water.

And there it was.

From a distance it looked like a big floating carpet. It seemed to lazily float along in the water, with no tropism, like a mat of seaweed or kelp.

The carpet was rather large, about the size of Rhode Island. Keiichi saw that parts of it along the edges seemed to be breaking up, like an iceberg calving off chunks of itself to create daughter icebergs, possibly due to fluctuations in the ocean current. The small strips then slowly floated away.

Keiichi was underwhelmed. "This is stupid. It's just seaweed."

"Actually it's even less than that. It has no DNA, no proteins, not even a cellular structure. It's basically a single carbohydrate molecule, a big convoluted sheet of polysaccharides, like a polymer.

Keiichi said, "A carbohydrate?" He rolled his eyes. "So it's a wet potato chip. Big deal."

"Oh, it's much more than that. And despite its appearance it is incredibly thin, only a few microns thick. The folds make it look much thicker than it actually is."

"Wait, back up. You said that thing is a single _molecule_?"

"Yep."

Keiichi was now getting exasperated with his former mate. "Skuld! Stop wasting my time!"

"Just wait and hear me out. They are called Wang's Carpets*. It's a pun on Wang's Tiles, named after the mathematician Hao Wang who invented them in 1961. He designed a simple set of 13 flat tiles that can tile the plane only aperiodically, like a quasicrystal. If you attempt to cover the plane with those 13 simple tiles it will create a pattern of endless complexity that never repeats itself."

Skuld then quickly translated the pair into the ocean and moved towards the main carpet. "This is how the carpet looks when viewed up close and edge-on. Notice the incredibly complex structure along the edge?" Keiichi saw that the edge was amazingly thin and convoluted, folding back on itself thousands of times. It appeared to be slowly growing outward, like a rug being woven by an invisible hand.

Skuld continued to explain. "There are several complex organic cross-linked chains, combined with radicals created by UV radiation that floats down from the surface, to create about 20,000 basic units that can replicate themselves. And it's all aperiodic. So it acts like Wang's Tiles, except instead of only 13 tiles there are 20,000. And Wang's Tiles have been proven to be isomorphic with a Turing Machine. But the growth is just basic physics and blind chemistry. There is no guiding hand as it builds."

Keiichi understood that part from his computer-science classes in college. "In other words, the carpet is like a computer. It computes information."

"Yeah. Are you familiar with Fourier transforms?"

He thought a moment. "Uhm, yeah. A little bit. We studied them in EE class when we learned about induction and alternating current. It's a way to convert a signal from the time or spatial domain to the frequency domain, and vice versa."

"Correct. Fourier transforms are at the heart of many data compression algorithms for hi-def TV and film, and they are used in many supercomputer algorithms for solving partial differential equations, spectral analysis, signal processing, SETI research, and so on."

Keiichi started to catch on. "And it's a Turing Machine. So that means.." He furrowed his brow. ".. that the carpet acts like a great big organic supercomputer." He paused and thought some more. "But wait, what are those carpets doing with all that incredible computing power?"

Skuld clapped her hands in delight. "Very good, Keiichi! You asked the right question." She gave him a big smile. "I love it when you get clever." She mussed his hair playfully.

"Stop that!"

She was getting excited. "Okay! Right! Let's shift ourselves from the spatial domain to the frequency domain and I'll show you exactly what it is computing. It all happens on the edge of the carpet. Everything interesting is all happening along that line."

"It's only 1-dimensional?"

"Yeah. Amazing, isn't it? Even Flatland has two dimensions. This has only one. It is a single 1-dimensional spatial and time domain that encodes thousands of frequency domains. And the interior of the carpet is basically a history that records everything that previously happened along that thin line. And because of the randomness of the radicals and side-chains glomping on, it acts like a Non-deterministic Finite Automaton (NFA). NFAs are actually far more complex than DFAs. Here's a hint: An NFA is a power-set of a DFA."

Keiichi was enthralled. "A power set? Oooh.. this smells like one of those reality level thingies."

She beamed at him. "Oh Keiichi, that's wonderful! You figured it out.  Now get ready."  She closed her eyes and concentrated. 

"Uh, this might take a minute." 

Nothing was happening. Meanwhile Keiichi's mind started to drift.

He continued to think about the carpet. It was an organic computer, living in the wild, existing on that delicate edge of adaptive complexity where life always lives.

He knew that life was always messy, diverse and unpredictable, with a riot of complex interactions, of organisms fighting and eating each other trying to survive and adapt. Predators and prey struggling ruthlessly to survive. And Skuld had previously said it was the 'coolest and most amazing life form in the galaxy'...

Uh oh. He grew concerned. "Skuld? Is this safe?"

"Be quiet. This is tricky. I gotta find a vector basis for us to get inside this puppy. There are so many to choose from, and I only have ten dimensions to work with..."

"Wait, _only_ ten? How many dimensions does this thing have?"

"Each frequency is a dimension. There are thousands."

"This thing has _thousands_ of dimensions?"

She smiled with her eyes stilled closed. "Yes. It will be good practice for us when we go higher up the transfinite ladder, don't you think?"

Keiichi gripped Skuld's arm tightly. "Just don't let go of me."

She held his arm in return. "Don't worry, I won't. But I gotta warn you, you might feel a little, uh, disoriented. If it's too much, tell me and we'll bail out fast."

Keiichi waited.

Then everything changed.

Disorientation.

Slowly, things came into focus. There were creatures swimming around them everywhere: fractal tubular worms that branched like the Mandelbrot set, jellyfish-like things with a seemingly infinite number of tendrils, octopoi with tentacles that ended in floppy tesseracts and hyperspheres. It was all surrounded by an undulating hyperdimensional seascape of exotic coral reefs with impossible complexity.

And everything _moved_. It wasn't anything like movement in 3D space. The creatures seemed to move by reconstructing their forward edges while dissolving the rear ones.

Skuld asked, "You okay..?"

"Uh..yeah. I'm good. But I can't see myself."

"Of course not. With only three dimensions you are a basically a point object in this place."

Then something large and ominous loomed towards them. It was a monster with pointed insectile lances, headless. It speared one of the octopoi, which struggled furiously before it stopped moving.

Skuld said, "Predator and prey. That happens anywhere life exists. It's a universal constant." Her gaze shifted. "Oh, hey, it's one of those squids!" It floated into view. It looked like a giant mollusk with fractal tentacles.

"Lemmie see if I can re-orient.. ugh.. this is hard. There, got it."

They were now looking at a 'cross-section' (if it can be called that) of the squid's central neural region. "With the higher dimensionality their brains have way more interconnections than ours. Here's a neural map of some of the primary nodes."

Given the centuries of their bonding, both Skuld and Keiichi had become experts in interpreting neural networks.

She said, "See? it has an internal model of other squids. And look at this node-cluster of a model of itself. It's a self-representational mapping. This is what it thinks about itself."

"Wait, you mean that squid thing is conscious? It is intelligent?"

"Oh yeah, that thing is way more intelligent than you. No offense." She left out the fact she knew it was also smarter than her. "It's not a tool builder, though. More like a dolphin. Most intelligent life is like that. Sophisticated tool builders are rare because you need to live on dry land to invent fire and the other necessary pre-requisites."

She sighed wistfully. "I'd love to be able to talk to it. To tell it that there is a whole higher level of reality that exists outside their universe. We could swap information, learn about each other's philosophy and such. Wouldn't that be neat? It might take several years for me to decode it..."

Keiichi began to be tempted. It was so amazing.

But no. Not even this honey trap could prevent him from wanting to see his home.

"Skuld, as wonderful and amazing as this place is, we need to get going."

She looked at him. She knew just how stubborn he could be once his mind was made up.

"All right. But just remember what you saw here, especially the predator."

"Fine. Let's go."

* * *

They were now back in space under the glare of Orpheus' furious sun. Keiichi folded his arms. "Okay, I admit that was pretty cool. But now we go to Earth. No more detours."

She ignored him. "Hey, I know! Let's go to Draco and see the cheela**! They live in a 60 million gee gravity field on the surface of a neutron star. They are so tiny, just little flat pancakes the size of a mustard seed. Yet they have more mass than you or me. They breathe an atmosphere of iron vapor. It's all neutron chemistry. And get this, their subjective sense of time is a million times faster than ours! A sustainable conversation with them is going to be a bit difficult, but maybe.."

Keiichi put up his hand and interrupted her. "Skuld. No."

"Okay, what about Darwin IV***? In the past the planet's atmosphere was totally opaque, so all the animals are blind. They use sonar to see just like Halval does. And it's a wickedly competitive ecosystem, simply savage. It has the Eosapiens, tool users on the cusp of sentience. And then there's the Emperor Sea Strider walking on the amoeba sea. It's the largest non-aquatic animal with a skeletal structure that exists anywhere outside of low-gee environments. You gotta see that sucker.. it's huge! And it's reproductive cycle is amazing! C'mon, we gotta check it out!"

"Earth."

"Aw.."

"Earth. Now."

She shook her head inwardly. _Well, I tried my best._

Skuld then gave him a sympathetic look. "Right.. well, about that. Uhm, I need to explain some things to you first before we go there.."

"What? Why?"

"To prepare you."

"For what?"

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain using words. Maybe it would be best if I simply showed it to you."

"Show me what? Stop being so evasive. Just tell me!"

She ignored him as she came to a decision. "Yes, I think that would be best."

She moved very close to him. Her deep brown eyes were now only a couple inches from his own.

Then she raised her right hand in front of her face, palm extended. "Hold on tight."

She placed her palm gently on his forehead.

"Hey!"

"Don't worry, I'll catch you."

"Skuld, what are you doing? Stop that!"

Then everything went away.

* * *

Keiichi was angry. "Hey! I said no more detours! Where are we now?"

"Relax. We haven't gone anywhere. I just temporarily pulled you inside my mind. We're still bonded, remember?"

He folded his arms grumpily as he looked around at the flashing nodes of light within her mind. "Great, now I'm living back inside of dork-land again."

"Very funny." A representation of herself walked up to him and held him. Keiichi noticed that she looked slightly different somehow. He saw that her wraparound sarong skirt was brown again instead of white. Was that the difference? No, it was something else. Hmm. The height difference. Did she get taller? No, he was shorter. He checked his ears with his hands. Yep, they were sticking out. And he again sported a dark-gray windbreaker jacket tied around his light-gray khakis. He was the original Keiichi again.

Meanwhile, old feelings began to well up inside of Skuld. It was because she had not hosted him inside her mind like this for quite a long time. Her old emotions had returned: feelings of closeness, of deep intimacy.

She gently stroked his imaginary back. "It's so nice to see you again, the man I fell in love with. Honestly, I've missed you in here terribly. I didn't realize how lonely I would get when you left."

He returned her embrace, a bit startled. "You were that lonely? Really?"

She sighed, "It's all right."

He grew concerned for her. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you missed me that much. Why didn't you say anything?"

She smiled at him. "Because you enjoyed it so much when I gave you your freedom. The projection fields. Being independent. You were enjoying life again. So I never said anything."

"Well, thank you for finally telling me. I'll stay in here with you more often from now on."

She looked down, somewhat shyly. "I think I'd like that."

"Yeah." He continued to hold her. As he did he took a look around the enormous space that they were now standing in.

"So where are we, anyway? I know this is just a mental construct." He meant that the space they were now standing inside of was basically nothing more than a lucid dream created by Skuld's mind as she projected her thoughts to construct the surrounding environment. It worked rather like the holodeck aboard the USS Enterprise.

She had done these kind of simulations with him thousands of times before. They had gone on an endless number of romps within her mind.

Keiichi had to admit that Skuld had a vivid imagination. She would take him to some imaginary wild and exotic location that could not possibly exist in the real world. Or she would set up some fantastical and crazy scenario. Sometimes it would be romantic, sometimes it would be adventurous. Most often it was both: Elaborate space operas, pirate attacks, courtly intrigues. Her favorites seemed to be those where she was a damsel in distress for Keiichi to rescue.

Keiichi had wondered why she liked playing that role so much, as her real personality was nothing like that. She told him it was precisely because it was the opposite of her aggressive take-charge personality. She said it was a healthy way to stretch herself out beyond her normal roles in daily life. For the same reason she had Keiichi play-act roles that were much different than his own personality, such as the swashbuckling sword-fighting hero or the daring and lovable rogue.

Keiichi thought that the real reason was more prosaic: Skuld simply enjoyed the fantasy of being rescued by her dashing hero. When he asked her about it she had grudgingly admitted that might be part of it, but she explained that it was more to help support his male ego. He was only a weakling mortal, after all, and so he could not possibly save or rescue someone as powerful as an Aggregate Principal Representative. Not in real life. She said she just wanted to build up his self-confidence.

He countered that he _did_ in fact rescue her, and had done so many times: from brain-eating nanites, from committing genocide, from Fenrir, from the Frost King, and many other times. He chuckled that it seemed he was always saving her from one threat or another.

And for that smart-alecky remark she had dropped him into a simulation of the miserable battle of Helms Deep.

In the dark and pouring rain.

As an orc.

At first he hated playing all those silly games. Later he confessed that, yeah, it was actually good clean fun. (Except those few times when she was mad and turned him into a newt or something.) After all, he knew that at the end of each fun story he always got the girl - and all the benefits thereof. It was a healthy way to keep a long-running marriage fresh and alive after the first century or so.

Sometimes Skuld would let Keiichi take control and run his own sims just for fun. His fantasies tended to be more pedestrian: motorcycle racing, mountain climbing, being alone with her on a deserted beach, and so on.

Then one day he tried to re-create Belldandy. To his credit, Keiichi quickly realized his mistake. He shut down the sim himself before the alarmed Daitenkaicho could intervene. He never did it again.

Keiichi again asked, "Skuld, what is this place you created? I don't recognize it."

She finally explained what he was looking at. "This is a representation of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome. Erected in 128 AD by the Roman Empire, it held the record for the world's largest domed building for well over a thousand years. It is still the largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world."

Then something very small, practically invisible, buzzed past Keiichi's ear. "Hey, there's a gnat in here, I think."

"Yes. Actually there are 92 of them."

"Why 92?"

"Because a uranium atom has 92 electrons. This is a representation of a uranium atom, specifically uranium-238. It's a simple Bohr model. With 92 protons and 146 neutrons it is the largest stable natural atom in the natural universe, with a half-life of over 4.5 billion years. Anything larger is made artificially in nuclear reactors, nuclear explosions, or as short-lived radioisotopes in supernova blasts."

"I see. So where is it? The atom, I mean?"

"You're standing inside it."

"Huh? You mean this whole huge volume of space is.."

"Yes. This whole space represents a single atom."

"But wait, where's the rest of it?"

"You mean the nucleus?"

"Yeah. I don't see it anywhere."

"It's up there." She pointed. "The center of the atom." They floated upward. "It has a diameter of 15 femtometers, making it larger than any other naturally occurring atomic nucleus. This is as big as it gets. See? It's right over here."

"Where? Past that little marble thing?"

"Keiichi, it _is_ that little marble thing."

He bent over and stared at it. He could barely see it. A bit over a centimeter wide, it was buzzing and jostling around like an angry hive of tiny bees. All 238 of them packed in such a tiny volume.

"That's it? In this whole huge dome?"

"Yes."

"But it's practically empty!"

"Yep."

"So physical matter is basically.. a whole lot of nothing?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

She poked her finger into his shoulder. "When I press my finger into you like that, it is actually the electroweak force that is causing the resistance that is stopping my finger. There is no actual physical contact anywhere, in the sense of particles getting close enough to actually touch. The nuclear forces prevent it. So in a sense I am not actually 'touching' you at all."

"I see."

"Now let's go up to the opposite end of the scale." Everything shifted.

They were now floating in a black expanse. "This is intergalactic space. More specifically, it is the volume of space in-between galactic superclusters. It constitutes over 99% of the volume of the observable universe."

"A whole lot of nuthin'."

"Yep. The universe is appallingly empty, on both scales. The physical structure of the universe is actually very frothy, sort of like soapy suds when you take a bath. The galactic superclusters are all clumped along very thin strips and point junctions that interconnect the frothy soap bubbles."

"And the inside of all those huge soap bubbles.."

".. is empty. As empty as it gets. For a billion light years in every direction."

"More nuthin'."

"Yes. Now let's look at an intermediate scale." Everything shifted again.

"This is a scaled representation of your sun, Sol." Keiichi saw a tiny dot about the size of a period on a printed page. "The nearest neighboring sun would be Alpha Centauri, about 4.24 light-years away, over there." She pointed.

"Where?"

"Let's go see."

They had travelled about 2 kilometers. He asked, "Here?"

"No."

2 kilometers more. "More?" "Uh-huh."

Again. "You're kidding."

This repeated a few more times.

After about 14 kilometers they finally stopped. Another tiny dot the size of a period.

She said, "If your sun was scaled up to 1 foot radius, Alpha Centauri would be over 10,000 miles away."

Keiichi shook his head. "This is nuts. Space is so _empty_."

"Yes. So let me now ask you, given what you have learned, would you consider a random meteor, a lump of rock, in the great scheme of things, to be something rather special?"

"Yeah."

"Rare?"

"Of course."

"Perhaps even precious?"

"Well, I sort of see what you mean... Anything at all would be pretty special given the complete emptiness surrounding us."

"Good, remember that. Now let's see something even more rare." Another shift.

There were floating next to what looked like a large irregular semi-translucent sphere. Several snake-like entities were heading towards it. "This is the moment of conception. Between 100 million to a half-billion sperm cells are all swimming frantically to find this, the egg. Only one will succeed."

"Heh. So you have better odds of winning the Power Ball lottery jackpot than a sperm has of fertilizing that egg."

"Yes."

"That is one lucky sperm. You know, it seems like all of the interesting things in the universe are rare. Special."

"Yep. All life on Earth exists in a supremely thin layer, thinner than skin of an onion on the same scale. The bulk of the Earth's mass, 99.999..% of it, is dead. See a pattern here?"

"God seems to like rarity."

"Yes."

"But why? Why not simply create a universe that is completely alive? Make everything living? Why is it all so empty, so dead?"

"Keiichi, that is a very good question. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. My personal theory is that it is because it makes those very few things in the vastness of the universe even more precious, even more special. But I don't really know for sure."

Keiichi put his hand to his chin in thought. "I think I'm starting to get it. And intelligent tool-building life is the rarest of all. So is that why no space aliens have ever visited Earth?"

"Uhm, yes, partly why.."

"Well?"

"Uh, let's not get off track here. We can discuss Fermi's Paradox later."

"All right."

She touched his shoulder. "Keiichi, there is one more important concept about the nature of the universe that I want to explain to you before we go visit Earth."

"Sheesh. Skuld.."

"Last one. I promise."

"Fine. And what concept is that?"

"Conservation."

"You mean like ecology? The environment?"

"No."

"Energy conservation? Like cutting back on burning fossil fuels and such?"

"Again, no."

Keiichi waited patiently.

"I mean the conservation laws of physics."

"Aw, not physics again. Give me break. I was told there would be no math on this test."

She smiled, "Relax, Keiichi, I'm not gonna throw any math at you."

"That's better. And the point is..?"

"The point is, in nature everything is conserved: momentum is always conserved, energy is always conserved, electric charge is always conserved. The books have to balance. Always."

"Always."

"Yes, always. The central concept - that the books must always balance - is the foundational principle of how the whole universe works. It is probably the number one organizing principle of, well, everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes, everything. It includes the notion that the cost, the debt, the price, must always be paid. And yes, that even includes the theory of justice as well. The books must always balance."

"Wait, justice?"

"Yes. It is simply how the universe works. In the end everything must balance. Everything."

"Okay..."

She made a deep sigh, then she gave him a sad look as she gently caressed his unruly hair.

"Keiichi, I really need to caution you. You might not like what you find when we go there.."

"What is it already? Just tell me."

"No. It's better if you see it for yourself."

"C'mon, how bad can it be? Your warning sounds like the one that the ape leader, Dr. Zaius, gave to Taylor at the end of the film _The Planet of the Apes_ [1968], like I'm going to see the broken Statue of Liberty on the beach and go all Charlton Heston as I pound the sand: 'Damn you! Damn you dirty apes!'"

She just looked at him. She wasn't laughing.

It was because while the pair were visiting Ceres at the start of their tour of the Sol system, Skuld took a quick peek behind her in Earth's direction while Keiichi's attention was on the dwarf planet below them. Although it was only a point-source of light at that distance, that quick glance told her everything that she needed to know.

Keiichi said, "Okay, sorry for the bad joke. Let's just do this. And thanks for the info and the warning. I'll try to be ready."

She continued to caress his hopelessly messed-up hair. "All right, Keiichi, my dear love. Let's go. Let us finally go and see your home."

The waypoint opened.

They went inside together.

* * *

**A/N:**

* From the short story _Wang's Carpets_ by Greg Egan. It first appeared in the SF anthology _New Legends_ (1995). Egan later expanded the story to novel length in _Diaspora_ (1997).

 _Wang's Carpets_ is probably my favorite hard SF short story. I think Egan writes hard SF better than anyone. Even after 20 years the story still holds up really well. The eBook costs only 99 cents (the novel is three bucks) and is well worth it. His website, [gregegan.net](http://gregegan.net/), has links to free versions of several of his other stories as well.

** From the novel _Dragon's Egg_ by Robert L. Forward (1980). One of the earliest hard SF novels of the modern era, it was influential in kicking off the genre.

*** From the illustrated book _Expedition_ (1990) by Wayne Douglas Barlowe. His paintings of the fictional alien creatures are simply gorgeous. It was later produced as a television special on the Discovery Channel called _Alien Planet_ (2005).


	32. Keiichi Makes a Confession

**Chapter 32: Keiichi Makes a Confession**

Lindy was standing alone on the hill overlooking the lake.

She sensed her subordinate walking up behind her. Lindy smiled without turning around. "Good afternoon, Halval."

The demon bowed behind her. "My lady."

Lindy continued to look out towards the picturesque horizon. It was a scenic vista right out of a pastoral painting by Thomas Cole.

The dark lady came alongside her mistress.

"So what brings you up here this lovely afternoon?"

Halval paused, then turned and faced the blond angel. "My lady, may I make a request?"

"Certainly."

"I would like.. I want.. I want to change.. to switch sides."

That got Lindy's attention. She turned, and what she saw shocked her.

It was because for the first time she saw that Halval was in tears.

Lindy grew concerned for her charge. She looked at her with a combination of love, worry, and compassion. "Halval, are you all right? What brought this on?"

Halval revealed her white gloved hand to bring out a delicate embroidered handkerchief. She tried to wipe her tears away. "Honestly, my lady, I am not certain myself. All I know is that I have been thinking about it for a long time. I see how happy you are now. How you, Thoriko, Unn, Chrono, and the other angels are so happy, so at peace. It is obvious that you possess some secret that I do not."

"Go on."

"When the gates disappeared I knew that as demons that our mission to Earth had ended. And so I had no purpose, no duty to fulfill any longer.."

Lindy interrupted her, "And so when I came down to rule Niflheim you decided that I would fulfill that role for you."

"Yes. I had assigned myself a new purpose: to serve you. Not you as Daimakaicho, but you as a person. And so I did: I served you. Then I became fixated on you. Then I became obsessed with you. And in my obsession for you, I finally overwhelmed you, seduced you."

The demon looked away. "I am so sorry for doing that to you. It was not my intent. I think I went mad."

"It's all right. And so now you want a new purpose."

"Yes."

"You want to become an angel."

She grew excited in a way that Lindy had never seen before. "Yes, yes! I sincerely want to change.. to have a new purpose. A higher purpose. That is why I want to change sides.."

Then her eyes became distraught again, ".. but I don't know how."

Lindy crossed her arms as she gave her former charge a knowing smile. "Well, that much I can teach you."

Halval fell to her knees. "You will? You will teach me?"

"Gladly. And stand up. Here is rule number one: Do not worship angels, especially not me. Got that?"

Halval immediately stood up again. "Of course, mistress.. I mean, Lindy-sama.. Lindy."

Lindy grinned, "Very good. You are a fast learner."

She started to bow, then caught herself. "Thank you. I will do my best."

Lindy looked at her thoughtfully, "Hmm.. Chrono is certainly going to like this." It was because there were certain special abilities that only angel-class Valkyries had.

The demon looked at her new sensei with her strange all-black eyes, "But I must be honest with you, I am not sure that I will not falter."

Lindy gave her a benevolent smile and said, "Oh Halval, those are the same concerns that everybody has. Because everyone falters."

"Everyone?"

"Yes."

"Even you?"

"Oh yes, most emphatically. We angels mess up a lot. Far more than you think."

"Truly?"

"Truly. Have I ever lied to you?"

Halval bit her knuckle and made a girlish grin. "Only when you are playing with me, jesting with me." She meant the verbal jousts they sometimes did. It was a contest where each tried to out-bluff or out-fool the other.

"Heh, yeah. I do that to keep us both sharp."

"And I enjoy sparring with you so much! Can we still do that if.. if I..?"

"Why, certainly."

Then Lindy had an idea. She made a furtive glance around the hill to make sure that nobody else was nearby. Then she leaned in and whispered to her new kōhai, "Look, there is this card game that I play regularly with some of the other angels." That included her sister and the other Valkyries. "The game is called poker. I could teach you."

"Yes, please do!"

"But only if you agree to split the pot with me."

"Of course, Lindy-sensei."

Lindy rubbed her hands with glee. "Heh, Thoriko and Chrono won't know what hit 'em."

They walked down the hill together as she went on. "You see, it is all based on bluffing and probabilities.." Their voices faded into the night.

* * *

Keiichi and Skuld were standing together inside the waypoint tunnel that connected Orpheus and Earth. It was a white and featureless plain, stretching seemingly forever in all directions.

Keiichi was anxious. "Skuld, hurry up and open the exit. I want to see Earth."

She paused, then turned to look at him. "Keiichi.."

"C'mon, stop stalling. Open it up."

"Keiichi, before we cross through, I need to ask you a question. Please be honest with me."

He rolled his eyes. "You are totally determined to drag this out, aren't you?"

"Keiichi.."

He folded his arms. "Now what?"

She gave him a serious look. "Keiichi, I know you're hiding something."

That startled him a bit. "Huh? No I'm not."

"Yes you are. There is something you're not telling me."

He just looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"Tell me what happened, just after we died. What really happened. When I was still laying catatonic from the death trauma."

He thought for a moment. "Well, it's all kind of fuzzy.. I died too you know. I do remember that I held you."

"Yes, and thank you for holding me. You saved me. I never felt so scared or helpless. You brought me out of my catatonia. I don't think I would have ever come out of it otherwise."

"I made sure you would. I would have held you forever if I had to."

"Heh. Maybe you did."

"Hmm?"

"I was zoned out far longer than you realize. It had to be weeks at least. Maybe months, years, decades, centuries? Who knows? Time becomes disjoint up here, like in a dream."

"I couldn't say how long it was. Like I said, my memory was hazy."

"Be that as it may, and thank you again, but that is not what I am referring to."

"So what are you asking me about?"

"Keiichi, I want you to please be honest with me. Tell me what happened to you just after you died. Right after the moment of your death."

He tilted his head. "Skuld, what are you talking about?"

She got agitated and her face grew stern. She took a step towards him. He stepped back instinctively.

"Keiichi, don't play stupid. Not with me. You should know better."

He looked at her helplessly. "What? I'm not."

Then she roughly grabbed his shirt and got right in his face. "That body you are wearing! Your new body! That's what I'm talking about!"

"Oh.. that.."

"It wasn't just handed to you!"

She released her grip. He stumbled backwards. "No, it wasn't.."

"Then tell me the truth!"

"I.. I don't know if I want to."

His voice became very small. "Or even if I can."

Her voice became quiet too. "Why not?"

He whispered, "Because it was very private. As private as anything can be."

She understood. Her face softened as she slowly approached him again. He didn't move away this time.

Eventually she got very close and gently held him, comforting him as if he was a baby, patting his back. "I know, darling. It's okay.."

He sighed, "Thank you. Thank you for understanding why I can't tell you."

"Actually, you still need to tell me."

Keiichi pulled back. "But why?"

"Because I'll discover your secret sooner or later anyway. At some point it will accidentally leak out of your mind when you are inside my head. Probably at the worst possible moment, like when we are having an argument or a fight or something."

His face fell. "I forgot about that. You're probably right.."

She gently pulled him in again. She slowly stroked his back lovingly. "So why not just tell me yourself? In your own words? It's the best way. You know that."

He looked away. "Because.. because it's so embarrassing."

"Keiichi.."

"Look, I still feel awful about it. You don't understand. I felt so ashamed. It was the most shame I had felt in my entire life. You.. you have no idea what it was like.."

He looked back at her. "If I tell you, you'll hate me."

Skuld rested her chin on his shoulder. She spoke with the softest whisper, "You know that would never happen. I love you. You're safe now. Whatever you tell me will remain totally confidential. Just between you and me. It will be a secret that I will keep forever."

"You promise won't tell anyone? Not even Belldandy?"

That surprised her. "Well, uh, sure. I won't tell Big Sis. I promise. Not even if she asks me directly."

He still hesitated. His face looked distressed and uncertain.

She continued to calm him and encourage him, "Keiichi, I love you beyond words. There is nothing that you can say or do that will break our bond. You know that. Please, just tell me."

She waited.

More time passed in silence.

They remained perfectly still in that embrace.

Still more time passed of unknown duration.

He finally gave in. "All right."

She waited again.

He sighed, "I don't know where to begin."

She cupped his cheek with her hand. "It's okay, my love. Start any way you want."

He took a deep breath, Then he told her his story.

"At first I was completely disoriented. It felt like I was falling. I panicked. Then I saw a white light. It was blindingly bright. It finally resolved into some kind of large featureless space. Everything was white. In the center stood a great chair, like a throne, and I found I was kneeling before it*. There was someone sitting in it, with two large tomes side-by-side, both laying open. At first I couldn't bear to look up at that blindingly white face. I cowered on the floor in total fear."

"Go on."

"Then He spoke to me. He spoke directly to me."

"He spoke?"

"He judged me. I felt awful."

"You were judged.."

"Yes. Everything. Every wrongful act I ever did. Things I didn't even realize I had done. The people I.. I.. hurt. The wrongs I did. Every act."

"Oh, Keiichi, you poor dear." She tried to console him. "It's all right. Go on."

"No, I can't.."

She cupped his face again and turned it up towards hers. "You're such a good man, Keiichi. Honestly, I can't see how it could have been all that bad. Not for someone like you. Sure, for bad people, certainly. Thieves, murderers, the wicked. But not you, Keiichi. Believe me, you are the kindest, gentlest, nicest man that I have ever met. You have never hurt anyone, at least not intentionally. You are as pure as they come. That's why you earned the right to make the wish in the first place. I think it's why Big Sis fell in love with you. And that's no small feat in itself."

Then Keiichi suddenly became furious. He ripped himself away from her hug. "No!" He stepped back again. "No! You have no idea! I'm an awful person!"

"Keiichi.."

"Belldandy can't possibly love me if she learns about this, if she learns the truth about me.."

She gave him an indulgent smile. "Keiichi, that will never happen. I've known you for hundreds of years. You've kept no secrets from me, and you know you can't lie to me. I've touched every mental node within your mind many times. Indeed, in some ways I know you now even better than you do yourself. And if there's one thing I know for certain, it is that you are a good man."

He yelled back, almost savagely, "No! I'm _not_!"

She held her hands up, "Keiichi, calm down. It's okay."

He covered his own face in shame. "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just that it was.. it was so.."

Eventually he lowered his hand from his face. He looked at her with defeated eyes.

Inside, Skuld's heart was breaking. She wanted to rush over and grab him and never let go. But something inside her told her to hold back, to wait.

Instead she said softly, "It's okay. Just tell me. What exactly did the man sitting on the white throne say to you?"

"He told me about every wrongful act that I had ever committed in my entire life. All of them."

"All of them?"

"All of them. Even the ones I was only aware of vaguely, or didn't fully realize. That included the worst one."

She waited.

Then he told her.

"I was only 12. There was this girl that sat in the desk in front of mine. She was short, overweight, had buck teeth, and wore thick black eye-glasses. She didn't have any friends. At first I ignored her like everyone else did.

"Then about half-way through the school year she started bugging me in class, turning around to ask for my help on a math problem or an English vocabulary worksheet. I didn't think much of it at the time. I ignored her otherwise.

"Then by chance I started to run into her while walking to school. It happened several times. At the time I didn't realize it, but she was secretly waiting for me to walk by."

Skuld knew all about the girl of course. "Oh yes, I remember her. Her name was Elisa, wasn't it?" She remembered touching that particular node in his mind.

Skuld recalled that Keiichi had somehow upset the young girl, but from what she could remember it wasn't anything hateful or spiteful. "It turned out she had a crush on you, yes?"

"Yeah, she did. I didn't realize at the time. Or maybe I did and ignored it. I don't remember."

"Well, still, that doesn't sound so bad... So you had your first secret crush. That's sweet." She smiled. "I promise I won't get jealous of her."

He got angry again. "Shut up! I'm being serious here!"

She raised her hands again. "Sorry, please go on."

He gave her another look. Then he took another breath and continued his tale. "I never teased her or anything like that. But I never reciprocated. I gave her the cold shoulder. I answered her questions in class, and that's all.

"Then a month later she tried to sit next to me during lunch. I was polite, I said 'Hello', but beyond that I basically continued to ignore her. This went on for a while. Then one day near the end of the school year I got tired of it. I finally snapped at her, 'Look, I don't like you. Just leave me alone.'"

"Then what happened?"

He looked up with tears in his eyes. "She didn't come to the school the next day. That should have been a big clue."

"Keiichi.."

"I never did apologize to her. She never spoke to me again."

"So you rejected her, and you were rather rude about it. So what? It happens. Girls get rejected by boys all the time. You yourself got rejected by practically every girl at Nekomi Tech, remember?"

"But.."

"Sayoko laughed right in your face when you tried to ask her out. And she did it right in public, and everybody saw it happen."

"I was used to it."

"So then what happened?"

"The next year she transferred to another school."

"And then?"

"A few months after that.."

Skuld waited.

"She killed herself. I never knew."

So that was it.

Skuld's eyes were soft. "Keiichi, there was no way you could have known that would happen. It wasn't your fault."

His eyes grew fierce again. "It was! It was my fault!"

Huh? "How could it have possibly been your fault?"

" _Because He told me!_ That if I hadn't rejected her so rudely, everything would have been different! She would never have committed suicide!"

Skuld was stunned. Then she spoke quickly. "Keiichi, look, you said it happened a year later, right? It most likely was due to a whole bunch of little things that added up over a long time - years - problems with her folks, being bullied by other kids. Okay, so maybe you added to it. Maybe it was even enough to eventually tip her over the edge. I'm sure she was hurt and bullied by other kids far worse than anything you did. You shouldn't blame it all on yourself."

"You're wrong. And it gets worse."

Worse? "How..?"

He was now yelling at her. "Because I was the nerdiest kid in the whole school! And she was the nerdiest girl! We would have become friends! By the end of middle school she would have lost weight, gotten contact lenses and her teeth fixed, and she would have become beautiful. I would still be a total dork, of course. She would get really popular and all the other boys in high school would ask her out. She would have loved all the attention, sure, but I bet she would never have forgotten that short nerdy kid with the jug ears that she first had a crush on all the way back in 7th grade."

"Keiichi, I'm so sorry. But you know very well that your destiny is to be with Belldandy."

"Yeah, I know that. But what if things were different? What if I didn't blow her off like that? Who knows what might have happened? Maybe we might have eventually become close, maybe even a couple? Then all the other students would have shaken their heads and said to each other, 'What does that beautiful girl see in that little dweeb?'"

Skuld tried to stop him from beating himself up any further, "You couldn't have known.."

"We might have even married, had kids."

"Please, Keiichi, your path with Belldandy was set long ago. That alternate destiny would never have happened."

"I know! Because I pushed her over the edge!" He fell to his knees.

That was enough. She finally approached, kneeled down before him, and looked into his tragic eyes. "So He told you every sin you had ever committed in your life. And He told you all the consequences thereof. All of them. I see."

He sobbed, "Yes!"

"And then what did He say?"

"He asked me if I knew Him. Belldandy had explained everything to me when I confessed**, so I said 'Yes, I do.' Then I added that I now realized how terrible my sins really were, and I pleaded, I begged, Him for forgiveness, for all the awful things I had done. And I felt even more terrible for pushing all those awful acts onto His shoulders. I felt like I had crucified Him all over again."

She whispered, "And then?"

"He smiled and simply said my sins were forgiven. Then He said my name was in the second book."

"And..?"

"I woke up lying next to you. Then I crawled over and held you and sang to you until you came out of your catatonia."

"So that explains it. I wondered how you got that body. I thought it was too soon." But when she saw Earth at Ceres she realized that more than a thousand years must have passed, so the Second Death must have already taken place. And his confession explained everything. It all made sense. "Keiichi.."

He was still kneeling, eyes down, "You must hate me."

She touched his face again. "Of course not. Why do you think so little of me? If He forgave you, how can I do any less?" She embraced him again. "You poor man. It's all right. If He said you are forgiven, then you are forgiven. Big Sis will understand. I know she will."

"But.. how can I forgive myself..?"

And so, while they were both on still their knees, she gently held him as she continued to console him, wiping away his tears.

And she held him in that tender embrace for a long, long time.

* * *

**A/N:**

* Rev 20:11-13

** See _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , Chapter 22.


	33. Third Impact

**Chapter 33: Third Impact**

She continued to hug him as they remained on their knees. Nothing moved.

They were the only beings within that white infinity of nothingness. They remained motionless for a long time with Skuld hugging him while his own arms remained at his sides.

How long did they remain in that position? There was no way to know.

Skuld finally spoke softly into Keiichi's ear. "I've messed up too, you know. And a lot worse."

She gently rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed, "I should have anticipated the Last Battle, Niflheim's final attack, but I didn't. Instead I just gave up. And because of my inaction a lot of our friends got killed that day. I thought Lindy died too. But I did nothing. You kicked my ass good for that, and I deserved it. Then you got me to stand up and fight for our people."

She let her head tilt forward on his shoulder as she continued her confession. "And then I tried to kill everybody. Commit genocide. I know I was just following orders, but I didn't try to resist or even to object. If it wasn't for you..."

Another interval of silence passed. Then she closed her eyes and said, "And worst of all, I've hurt you."

He finally spoke. "No you haven't."

"Yes I have. When I was a kid, whenever you got too close to Big Sis I literally threw bombs at you. And then I.."

He interrupted her. "No, those bombs could never have really hurt me." It was because Keiichi had inherited his mother's natural protection against broken bones or fatalities (although neither one of them knew it at the time). Only a magical or supernatural force could ever really harm him. It was why he had survived so many huge explosions and ridiculously high falls on the grounds of the Tariki Hongan Temple.

Skuld replied, "But I didn't know that! I was a such a terrible bomb-throwing whack job.."

That response got a small grin out of Keiichi. "I have to admit it all must have looked pretty funny to an observer watching us. And you never really hurt me in any serious way. Not really."

"Actually, I did. I almost killed you once. No joke. You came within a whisker of dying because of me."

That took him by surprise. "You did? When?"

"At the temple. It happened when I was trying to boost my magic ability*. I desperately wanted to earn an angel egg so that I could be just like Big Sis. I thought it would help me become a grown-up. But I got frustrated with all the training that was required to build up my powers. It was such hard work. So I tried to cheat. Instead of doing training I built this big resonator amplifier to boost my magic powers. When I had finished it I was showing it off to you, trying to impress you, and so I turned it on to show you a demonstration of my fancy new powers. I cast an epic-level water spell, and it worked! But the machine went out of control and you were knocked unconscious. The machine was drawing in power from everywhere, including from you. I couldn't stop it. The spell was so strong that Big Sis couldn't stop it or even approach us. Urd finally took desperate measures. She violated her second-class license and cast a prohibited epic-level fire spell to dispel my water one. She got her license suspended for doing it."

The former Daitenkaicho finally opened her eyes again. "Big Sis was then able to reach you and save you. But it was really a close call. You weren't breathing."

Keiichi was already aware of what happened from his prior mental contact with her, of course. He knew how worried she was for him that day. But he had always thought it was just an overreaction because of her suppressed affections for him. "Wow, I didn't know it was that serious."

"It was. You almost died."

She sighed, "And that wasn't even intentional on my part. I was always attacking you and hurting you if you got anywhere near Big Sis. I'd totally lose it and go ballistic."

That admission finally made Keiichi smile again. "Yeah, you did. You know, Skuld, I gotta say that as kid you were just a teeny weeny little bit temperamental."

She scrunched his white T-shirt with both hands. "Well, if that isn't the understatement of the eon."

She pulled back and looked into his eyes directly. "Keiichi, listen to me. If it wasn't for you, all of the events after Ragnarök would have been completely different. I would have totally botched my job as the new Daitenkaicho. Eihwaz would have easily maneuvered me into signing a bad peace treaty that would have given everything away to Niflheim. Then she would have used Sena, Troubadour, and her other lackeys to quickly overwhelm me and take over Valhalla. Whether she gained that victory over me by trickery, treachery, or force would not have mattered. She would have defeated me easily. I would have lost everything.

"Keiichi, you changed me. Look, see?" She pointed at the three filled-in holes on the water symbols that were tattooed on her face. "You completed me and made me a better person. You helped me to think before acting, to become less impulsive and rash. And you showed me how to rein in my bad temper, and that's no small achievement in itself, believe me.

"Most importantly, you helped me to become more like Big Sis: to become more encouraging and supportive of others, to be helpful and kind, and to love everyone as much as I can." She touched his face. "Especially you."

She moved into a sitting position and leaned back with her hands propping herself up. "Look, Keiichi, I'm not going to sugar-coat this. You [bleeped] up. And you're going to have to live with it. While it is true that your sins can be forgiven, that they can be wiped from the books and forgotten in His eyes, you will never be able to forget what you did. That knowledge will remain with you forever.

"Now, I could argue that the consequences of your not dumping Elisa, of you living happily every after with her instead of meeting Belldandy, would have been cataclysmic in the great scheme of things. I could tell you that it would have caused the fall of Asgard along with untold pain, suffering, and death. I could try to justify your wrongful act that way, but I won't. Utilitarianism is crap. It's just an excuse. So all I will say to you is, yeah, you messed up."

He gave her a helpless look. "So what should I do, then? You're right, I will never forget it."

She got up. As she did so she grasped his hand tightly and lifted him to his feet as well.

"First, you stand up and wipe yourself off." She straightened out his rumpled T-shirt. "Next, you say to yourself, 'I will not mess up, today.' It's the same prayer used in 12-step: 'Please, Lord, help me to not falter, today.' That's the key: You work on it just for today. Not forever, just today. Don't make any resolutions or big solemn promises, otherwise you'll just fail them, even go backwards. Just work on today. That's how you do it: one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time."

He took a deep breath. "Okay.. I think I understand." Another small smile. "Thank you so much for your help."

She lightly touched his back. "It's what we do. We help each other. In an ideal world everyone would be doing that. Everyone would be helping each other, loving one another. No thank-yous would ever be necessary because it would simply be expected of each of us."

"Still, thank you."

She took a step into the whiteness as she prepared to open the portal. "I'm glad we got all this out in the open. Sorry for forcing it out of you like that. It had to be done."

"But why? Why did you do that? Now, I mean?"

"To prepare you. I've been trying to prepare you as best I can. Ever since we went to Ceres and I spotted Earth behind us."

"Skuld, what could you have possibly seen on Earth from that far away?" He knew that at a distance of over 250 million miles that Earth appeared only as a single dot of light. At Ceres it was farther away from them than how Mars appeared from Earth's own vantage point. Even Skuld's eagle eyes as an ex-Valkyrie would have been unable to resolve any surface features or even a disc at that distance.

But that was all moot. It was because she didn't have to. Once glance told her everything she needed to know.

"Skuld, what exactly did you see from Ceres?"

She did not answer. Instead the portal opened. She simply motioned to him.

He nodded and understood. He knew he would have to be shown.

He took her offered hand.

The door slid silently shut behind them.

* * *

The intensity nearly knocked Keiichi unconscious. "Help!"

Skuld immediately made some motions with her hands. She quickly rotated their dimensionality further out of 3D space so that their physical cross-section was now only a few microns wide. The heat subsided. "Oops, sorry." She kicked herself for not anticipating that the thermal effects would be this strong.

"Okay, I fixed it. We won't have particularly good resolution now. But, well, uh, as you can see we don't really need it.."

Keiichi was ignoring her. Instead he yelled, "Skuld! Why did you bring us out so close to the sun? I almost burned up!"

Skuld pointed in the opposite direction. "Keiichi, the sun is over there, behind you."

He whirled around and saw that Earth's yellow-white sun was about 93 million miles away, looking the same as it always had.

He sputtered, "But.. but.. what is that bright red thing we below us? It's super hot!"

"Keiichi.. I'm so sorry.."

It was his turn to ignore her. The red glare shined on his face. He understood.

Instead he simply asked of her, "Can we go down?"

Skuld was a bit confused. "Well, I guess so. We should be able to tolerate it down there for at least a few minutes, but why?"

His face grew stern. "I want to see it. Up close."

She was about to object because it seemed to so pointless to her. Then she decided against it. No, she would indulge him. She knew it would bring up some awkward questions, but he needed to know.

"Of course." They translated down.

Everywhere there was magma, a sulphurous bubbling furnance. Great explosions of molten rock erupted miles into the sky, sometimes followed by huge eruptions of gas that soared even higher.

The entire Earth had turned into a lake of fire.

Keiichi's voice was small. "When did this happen?"

She gazed out at the vast bubbling expanse of orange and red. "I'm not sure when exactly. It must have happened at least a thousand years after we left Earth. The planet was hit by a big asteroid impact, called a superbolide. It was a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO), a 200km long lumpy potato about the size and shape of Vesta."

She continued to explain. "About 13,000 years ago it was catapulted into the solar system by a gravitational slingshot in a close encounter with another KBO. It's been heading inward ever since. It came in well out of the plane of the ecliptic. It had low albedo and was moving pretty fast. It's new orbit brought it in from behind the Sun. Basically nobody saw it until it was too late. The kinetic energy was huge, sufficient to melt the crust. It is the third such impact in Earth's history."

"The third impact?"

"Keiichi, this has all happened at least twice before, the complete re-melting of the Earth's crust due to a collision. The second time it killed all of the primitive anaerobic life on Earth just as it was getting started, at the end of the Late Heavy Bombardment period. The first time it happened was when Theia, a Mars-sized body, collided with the proto-Earth shortly after its original formation during the Hadean epoch. That impact hit Earth off-center and whacked off a huge chunk of the planet that was large enough to form the Moon**. This is the third such impact, the smallest one. Much smaller than Theia this time. But it was enough."

It was because she had figured out what happened when she had spotted Earth at Ceres. Using her IR vision she had glanced in Earth's direction for only a second. But that oh-so-bright point-source of infrared illumination told her everything that she needed to know.

He couldn't take his eyes off the endless sea of roiling lava and the sulfurous plumes as they shot skyward. "This is awful. It looks like Hell."

There was a pause before she spoke.

"Keiichi, this _is_ Hell."

"What?"

"You're standing on it. We're in Hell."

He got angry with her. "Stop fooling around, Skuld. This is no time to crack jokes!"

"Believe me, I wish I was."

"This was my home!"

"I know.." He could tell from her sorrowful expression that she was being absolutely serious with him.

Keiichi was getting agitated. "No way! This hellhole didn't exist until that impact!"

"True."

"I lived here!"

"I know."

"So this.. this place couldn't have existed then!"

"Also true."

"But.. this is Hell? That's crazy! It doesn't make any sense!"

She decided to be honest with him. "Keiichi, this is it. Everyone's final resting place. Everyone who was left behind is still here. Right here. They never went anywhere."

He shook his head in disbelief, then looked around again.

"Keiichi, look. If you, I, or anyone wants to go to Hell, all we need to do is to simply sit on our collective butts and do nothing. Sooner or later, whether you are alive or in your grave, eventually you, me, and everyone else that remains on Earth will fall in to this burning cauldron."

He continued to gaze upon the endless fire that surrounded them.

She went on, "It's true. Eventually every worldly thing will fall in to this burning place. And unless you were taken away by the Ark, there is no way for you to prevent it. It's inevitable. Earth will pass away and this will be all that's left."

Keiichi finally sputtered, "But.. I thought that Hell was.. you know.. a bunch of red devil guys with sharp horns and beards and pointy pitch-forks.. Satan torturing the damned, stuff like that."

"I'm sorry, Keiichi. That is a common popular misconception. Oh, I understand why you have it. During Medieval times most people were illiterate, when the priests only spoke Scripture at Mass in Latin, which was an otherwise dead language by that time. The imagery that you are describing originally came from popular sources like Dante's _Inferno_. And that imagery was very vivid. Neither Dante as an author nor _Inferno_ were ever proscribed by the Church as far as I know***, and I don't think the Church particularly dissuaded that notion either. So it's not surprising that a lot of people believed that, even in your own time."

"So no red guys with pointy pitchforks then?"

"No, not like that. The word Satan comes from the word _Shaitan_ , which literally means 'accuser'. The purpose of demons, of devils, including the Evil One himself, is to tempt and to mislead the living, to try to lead us all astray, and then to condemn us or convict us whenever they succeed.

"The living."

"Yeah. And believe me, they hit on _everybody_. Even Jesus was tempted."*4

"Really? Even Him?"

"Jesus was fasting in the desert for 40 days and nights. He was literally starving. You see, temptation is an objective force that acts upon our inherent weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It's an external force. So when Satan tried to coax Jesus into turning stone into bread, it said nothing bad about Jesus nor His character. He was simply exposed to that particular temptation at that time. It is how we react to our temptations that matters. An alcoholic should be neither criticized nor punished for the urge to take a drink. On the contrary, he should be supported and lauded for fighting it successfully. What matters is whether he actually takes that drink, whether we give in to our temptations. You see, what those evil beings do is work on us, to try to make us falter. And after we are dead it's all over. I don't think that those supernatural entities have any real power over us after we are dead. Otherwise the choices that we make while we are alive wouldn't be so crucially important."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I admit I might be wrong. But go read it for yourself. There is nothing that I can find anywhere in Scripture that says that devils or demons torture the dead. Actually, it is rather the opposite."

"What do you mean, the 'opposite'?"

"Keiichi, Satan was dropped _into_ the Lake of Fire*5. And the Anti-Christ, and the False Prophet, and their followers. All of Team Evil were chucked in. There is no evidence that I can find in the Bible that says he ever ran the place. Now, I freely admit I might be wrong about this whole notion, but I cannot find anything in Scripture that demands that Satan ever actually ruled Hell."

"But.. but.. what about that time when Lucifer said, 'It is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven'?"

"Nice try. But you're just quoting John Milton's _Paradise Lost_. Like Dante's _Inferno_ , that story was a major source for lots of the popular misconceptions about Satan and Hell. Actually, in that story Lucifer later frankly admitted that he was lying when he spoke that line. He even confessed that God's yoke wasn't really all that heavy a burden on him, and that it was his own pride that was his undoing. So even within that story itself the statement wasn't true."

"Still, but why.."

"Yeah, I know what you're asking: Why didn't God simply re-create paradise on Earth? Why not go back and fix up Adam's original screw-up and bring back the Garden of Eden again? It would seem to make the most sense, right? Paradise regained and all that? Milton even wrote his sequel with that title."

"But.. look at all this.."

"Yes, it didn't happen. Jesus stated flatly several times that the Earth was going to pass away - that eventually everything would be gone. The whole universe in fact. And He's right. Both the sun and the universe are now reaching about their respective middle ages. Eventually both will be gone too. The sun will shrink to a white dwarf and burn out, and then the universe will end with either the Big Rip, or thermodynamic heat-death, or maybe some other way. Or maybe even sooner. The point is that it _will_ happen. And then that's it. He even said that Heaven itself would pass away and be replaced by a new one. And, wow, that's a sobering thought for an angel like me."

Keiichi said nothing. He continued to look at the burning desolation. Skuld watched him in sadness as the red glare reflected off his face.

Then she noticed that Keiichi was sweating profusely.

She became worried for him. "Keiichi, we shouldn't stay here much longer. It's not safe for you."

He still said nothing. Then she touched his shoulder, "Keiichi? Are you listening to me?"

He finally looked down. "Yeah, okay. I'm done here. Let's go."

"I'm sorry.."

"Let's just go."

They left.

* * *

They were now standing inside the waypoint tunnel between Earth and level 2. Everything again was an endless white.

The pair decided to take a break and sit for a bit before going on to level 2. Keiichi was still trying to mop off all the sweat using his forearms. Skuld didn't have a handkerchief for him, so instead she let Keiichi wipe off his face using the bottom of her white sarong as they sat on the floor.

As he was towelling off his face he said, "Sorry for soiling your skirt."

"Don't worry about it. Look, are you okay? I know that must have been a shock for you."

He did a final wipe with his arm. "No, I'll be all right."

She sat forward and looked down at the glassy white floor. "I didn't know about it myself until just after we had entered the Sol system. And then I didn't know how to explain it to you, other than to just show you."

"That was probably the best way."

They continued to sit in silence.

Finally he spoke up again, "You had mentioned an 'ark'?"

"Oh, yeah. The New Jerusalem. That citadel replaced the original Jerusalem after it was nuked. The remaining few faithful survivors, along with all the people who had died because of Him in the past and had received their new bodies, all lived there with Him in that city for a thousand years*6. It was an amazing place."

"Wow."

"That millennium had to have been incredible. I would have loved to have seen that."

"Yeah.."

"Eventually that place was besieged by all the surviving enemy armies. They were all seething with hate, camped outside those impenetrable walls.*7"

"Sheesh, you would have thought those guys would have gotten a clue by then."

"Yeah, you'd think so. But no, they were more pissed off than ever."

"That doesn't make sense. How stupid could they be?"

"Keiichi, it's just how people are. We are always controlled by our emotions and preconceptions, no matter the evidence, even if it is right in front of our own eyes.

She playfully mussed-up his hair again. He always hated that. "You're so wonderfully innocent." She smiled at him. "Silly man, even now, after having lived longer than any human since Abrahamic times, you're still a bit naïve. Yes, you'd think that all those dramatic and hugely apocalyptic events all happening right in front of them, with all those completely obvious supernatural signs happening everywhere, that those people would have had a change of heart. A few did, but most didn't."

"But why not?"

"Because people are pig headed. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He did it right in front of everyone, including all of His enemies. And do you know what those enemies did? They doubled-down on their efforts to kill Him!*8 And He resurrected Lazarus right in front of them! It's just how people are. We use our reason to justify our beliefs, not the other way around. Even people who claim to be entirely scientific and materialist do that. Actually, some of them are the worst offenders that way. It's really quite sad."

"I guess.."

Keichii thought for a bit. "But tell me, why does it have to be this way? Why does God throw people in Hell? Even good non-Christians? People like, say, Gandhi? That doesn't make any sense to me. Why would a loving God do that? Throw people in Hell?"

"That's a perfectly valid question. And it's very understandable one. Atheists jump on it all the time."

"Well?"

"Uhm.. this might take a while to explain.. you got time?"

He gave her a scowl. "Very funny."

"Sorry, heh."

"Stop stalling. Answer my question."

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Skuld yawned, then she laid out flat on the white glassy floor and stretched a bit. She cracked her knuckles, then folded her hands together behind her head. As she did so she continued to look upward at the white nothingness. Keiichi remained seated on the floor with his legs crossed.

_Sigh, he just had to ask that question of me. I really wish Big Sis was here right now.._

"Okay! Right! Let's see if I can give this a shot." Then she turned her head toward him. "Keiichi, please keep in mind that this is just my own personal theory. Don't take it as gospel."

"That's fine."

"Okay. Well, hmm.. let me think."

She crossed her legs and continued to look up.

"Let's start first with the obvious question: Did everyone drop in, or were they thrown in? Well, the word that is translated as 'thrown' in Rev 20:15 is actually ἐβλήθη (eblēthē). That verb or its variations appears 124 times in the NT according to Strong's Greek Concordance (word 906). It defines it as 'cast', 'throw', 'put', 'place', or 'drop'. There is a very literal translation of the NT called the NASB that is often used for word study by evangelicals. Depending on context the NASB variously translates the verb into English as 'cast', 'drop', 'laid', 'placed', 'poured', 'put', 'puts' 'threw', or 'thrown'. Now, the verb does have an emphasis on action by a subject acting on an object. This is why Rev 20:15 is customarily translated as 'cast' or 'thrown'. But 'drop' or 'put' works too."

As she gazed upwards she brushed away a lock of hair from between her eyes. "Next, we need to work on our definitions. Let's begin by distinguishing between the different kinds of hell." The lock fell back down.

"There are different kinds?"

She pushed it away again. "Seems to be. Different words for it, at least. One was called _Hades_ (NT Greek) or _Sheol_ (OT Hebrew). To the Greeks it was more-or-less a neutral term, the abode of the shades of the dead. To the ancient Hebrews it was kind of similar, maybe a bit darker because of Judaism's strong emphasis on the living. And that's as it should be. The LORD, the Hebrew tetragammaton, is emphatically the God of the living, not the dead. It might be because He didn't want Judaism to devolve into a death cult like the ancient Eqyptians, who spent more time building huge pyramids and piling up stores of gold and riches in the tombs of the pharaohs than anything else. In fact Jesus used exactly that metaphor to implore that we do the exact opposite: that the best way for you to store up riches in Heaven was to help the living down there."

"Okay."

The lock fell back down again. She gave up trying to move it. "The point I'm trying to make is that there was no real notion back then of Sheol being a fiery place of torment for the wicked."

"But wait, didn't Jesus himself say something about hell? That it was all hot and burning, so we really should try to avoid going there? That 'If your eye makes you stumble, it is better for you to pluck it out than to be thrown into hell, into the unquenchable fire'?"*9

"That's right. Very good, Mark 9. He was quoting Isaiah 66."

"Well then?"

"He was using yet another word for hell. The word he was using was _Gehenna_. And that was a really interesting choice of words on His part. Very interesting indeed."

"How so?"

"Because of what that word means. When Jesus used the word _Gehenna_ , I think he was using it quite deliberately as a metaphor for what hell is like. You see, in the first century everybody in Jerusalem knew exactly what Gehenna meant (Hebrew: _Gehinnom_ ). It was a literal place, a garbage dump that was located right outside of town. It was a large depression just outside the wall of the city called the Valley of Hinnom. (Gehinnom - Hinnom) People tossed their trash out over the city wall, and it fell and accumulated in the valley below.

"For over hundreds of years all that garbage had accumulated in thick layers of refuse, of decaying organic matter, that decomposed into methane gas. From the wall of Jerusalem you could look down and literally see all these little fires burning all over that valley. You can still see those fires today at big municipal garbage dumps, where pipes are stuck into the ground to burn off the waste methane gas."

"I get it. So in other words, Jesus was saying that hell is like a garbage dump."

"I admit I might be wrong, but basically yes. You remember the sad music montage from the movie _Toy Story 2_? When the little girl leaves Jesse in a box on the side of the road and they drive off?"

"Yeah. That was so sad. I cried."

"And do you remember that Spielberg film, _A.I. Artificial Intelligence_ , when David's mother drives into the woods and abandons David there and drives away?"

"That was really sad too." He thought a moment. "So your point is that both Jesse and David were thrown away."

"Yeah. You see Gehenna was a real place, a garbage dump that everybody knew about. So I think His use of that term was very deliberate. And He was definitely using it as a metaphor because it's a real place that everyone was aware of. What I think He was trying to say was that hell is when God gives up on you."

"Hmm."

"The way I see it, when you die you're done. Your consciousness, your data, the information that makes you _you_ , whatever you want to call it, goes into a final storage container where it is no longer fully actualized in physical reality. You can't change it anymore."

"In other words, Game Over."

"Yep. I think He was warning us that you really, really don't want 'to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.' The implication is that you really don't want to be tossed into it, which again neatly fits with the garbage pile metaphor. I think He was using exactly that metaphor in 9:43. Gehenna, God's junk pile. And the junk pile outside Jerusalem _is_ always burning with all those fires. And they are literally unquenchable. And everything Jesus says is true."

"Well?"

"But be careful. Read it again."

Keiichi simply waited.

Finally she said, "Read it again carefully. The explicit connection of _fire_ to _torment_ isn't actually there."

"Huh?"

"Check it for yourself. Work it out and you see it is correlation, not causation."

"Aw, c'mon.."

"Okay, okay, I admit that it might be the fire might be torturing you, but what I am saying is that a close reading does _not_ demand it."

"But why would He say something like that?"

"For a very good reason. I think He is using really strong language to shake you up. (He's very good at that.) He is using incredibly vivid imagery to hammer home the point He is trying to make. He is trying to literally put the fear of God in you. He is warning you that you really, really, really, do not want to end up in the garbage pile."

"So you think Gehenna isn't explicitly for punishment then?"

"No. I think it is just the default place where everyone and everything eventually ends up that isn't able to join up with God. God's junk pile. Now, I do think there is a kind of self-inflicted punishment in Gehenna: It is established in the Bible that when you are there, you know that you are there (your data is not stored passively). This is when you kick yourself for eternity about how badly you messed up."

Skuld re-crossed her legs as she continued to look upward at nothing. "And that's why it I think it's not so bad a place for babies and young children and such. I mean, assuming they even go there at all."

"Because they are not self-aware of their separation from God."

"Yeah. So it isn't really that bad for them."

"What about good non-Christians like Gandhi?"

"Oh, he was a sneaky bastard who got a lot of people killed. Sure, it was for a good cause, but he's no saint."

"But.."

"You see, you can't just go up and hang out with God on your own. You literally can't get there from here - an upper reality. God in His true form is so transfinite, so beyond us, so alien to our everyday experience, so powerful, that a direct face-to-face relationship is simply impossible. We'd literally get incinerated. Moses had the closest thing to direct contact, and he almost got fried.

"Keiichi, there is only one way to get there.."

He interrupted, "I know. This is that 'hack' metaphor that you are so fond of using all the time. Not a mistake or an error, but rather a special exception to the rules. Like dark matter and dark energy, a special modification to make it all work right."

She nodded. "Yeah, someone who was a unique exception to the rules."

"Fine, I get that. But getting back to this notion of hell, so you think this garbage pile and the Lake of Fire are two different places?"

"Oh yes, definitely."

"How do you know that?"

"Easy. Read it for yourself. Both death and _Hades itself_ got thrown into the lake of fire*10. So they can't be the same place."

Keiichi finally laid down on the floor himself. He began to look up at the blank whiteness. "So how many people got saved?"

"Hmm?"

"How many? I'm just asking out of curiosity."

"Err.."

"C'mon, it's a simple question."

She sighed and told him.

 _"_ What? You're kidding!"

She got testy with him. "Don't give me that surprised look. Look, remember what I showed you earlier on our tour? About how everything important in the universe seems to be rare, even precious?"

"But.."

"Hey, don't look at me. Everybody got plenty of warnings ahead of time about it*11."

"But, but why? That's awful. Why can't He simply let everybody go to Heaven?"

She stood up and faced him. "Keiichi, I'll answer your question if you answer mine first: Tell me, why do predators exist?"

"Huh?"

"I have already shown you that predators seem to always pop up wherever life exists. Tell me why? Why not simply create a universe without them? In the same vein, why are people allowed to do evil acts? Evil always seems to pop up wherever people go. Why not just force everyone to do good?"

"Uh.. well.."

She started tapping her foot. "I'm waiting.."

"Well, Keiichi? What's your answer?"

"Uhm.. maybe.. perhaps.. No, that doesn't work.. So maybe if.. no, that doesn't work either.."

"It's not so easy a question to answer, is it?"

"No, it's not. I'm guessing the Principle of Least Action figures in here somewhere.. or maybe free will..?"

"I dunno, does it? You tell me."

"Well.. uhm.." He continued to think hard. "I know that previously you showed me that predators are a natural and inevitable consequence of how life operates. There will always be predators, including human ones. And so that means there will always be humans who prey on the weak, on the innocent, on the helpless. It will always happen."

"Okay, maybe so, but why?"

"Uhm, maybe because without predators then life wouldn't work right?"

"Okay, I'll clue you in on that one. You are correct. Even amoebas are predators. Organisms would never have progressed beyond the level of pre-eukyarotic cells otherwise. Mitochondria would never have been captured, for example, and that is a necessary prerequite to form cells that contain a distinct nucleus with internal organelles, without which life would have been incredibly simple and uninteresting."

"Thanks for the clue. And we already know that God's creation is amazing and majestic, and that it is all based on simple rules and principles, and that He is an elegant minimalist."

"Again correct."

"Okay.. And so.. and so at the human level, it's the same thing, right? If evil was simply banned, we would lose all of our free will, all of our freedom to make moral choices. And freedom to make those choices is important. It is part of what makes us precious in His eyes, and He likes that. A forced confession would be useless. Worse than useless. We would just be nothing more than dolls, robots."

"Okay, let's just assume that then. So now tell me, Keiichi, why not just create, say, some kind of worldwide police force that would always intervene as soon as we tried to do anything wrong?"

"Uhm.. because then there would just be resentment added as well. The desire for rebellion would be universal, and be quite justified to boot."

"Very good. But now we are back to square one."

"Oh.. yeah.."

"It's not so easy, is it? Okay, you tell me. How would _you_ design everything if it was up to you. Hmm?"

"Who, me?"

"Yes you. Give me your solution then. One that doesn't turn everyone into robots or zombies, and that doesn't cause universal resentment, and that is fair and just, and that balances everything, and...?"

"Ugh, that's really hard."

"Why, congratulations, Sherlock. So if you can't come up with your own solution, then tell me, why does God allow evil? I'm still waiting for your answer to that first question." More foot tapping.

Keiichi flapped his arms. "C'mon, Skuld, how do you expect me to answer a question like that?"

"Because, Keiichi, if any human can answer that question, it's you. Who isn't already in Heaven, I mean. You have seen more amazing things, have travelled further into the heavens, have met more supernatural beings - some rather powerful ones I might add - and have learned more secrets about the nature of the universe, than any other mortal in human history. Well, at least since the time of Moses, anyway. And yet with all the knowledge you've gained to date, are you telling me that you still cannot answer that simple little question?"

He looked down. "No.. I can't."

She stroked the unruly mop of hair on his head. "It's okay."

He looked at her. "You think Belldandy might be able to explain it to me?"

"If she can, she will. And who knows? You might even have the opportunity to ask Him yourself."

He looked down. "No.. I don't think I'm brave enough to even begin to think of doing something like that."

"Why not? Just ask Him. That was the whole point of the Incarnation, wasn't it? To create a living bridge so that we could get that close to Him? Honestly, if I were you, I'd just ask."

"Boy.. I dunno.."

"Okay, look, why don't we just keep on climbing up then? Belldandy is still waiting for you. You can ask her if you like. And we're only at level 2. We've barely begun our journey, and there is still a long, long way for us to go."

"Yeah, let's get moving." They both stood up.

She pulled out the map and started to study it once more. "Hmm. Lemmie double-check the coordinates of our next waypoint.."

Then her eyes grew like saucers. "Hey!"

Keiichi became alarmed. "Skuld, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I don't believe it! Look at that!" She pointed at a spot on the map. He peered at it.

He saw that the symbols on the map had changed slightly at that locus. Although he could not read the symbols, he had studied the map long enough to have noticed it was indeed a bit different.

"Yeah, I see it. There are new symbols written under that node that weren't there before."

Her hand was shaking a bit. "That's.. level 38.."

"38? That is a major barrier, right?"

"Yes, it's the biggest barrier in the Lower Levels. It's the upper limit for anyone from Asgard. Including me." Keiichi knew that the other big breakpoint was at level 16, but it wasn't as difficult to breach as the one at 38.

"You never did explain to me how you intend to get us past that level 38 barrier, by the way." He looked back down at the map. "Skuld, I can't read those symbols. What does it say?"

"It says.. it says.."

"Well?"

Her eyes were sparkling brightly. "It says that we need to get our butts moving _now_."

She was trembling with excitement as she quickly waved her arms. The door opened. "Let's go! Hurry!" She grabbed his arm and forcibly dragged him along into the portal.

"Hey!"

Keiichi continued to complain. "C'mon Skuld, what's the big deal? Why the big rush all of a sudden*12? Let go my arm! Skuld, you are such a pain sometimes. I mean really, sometimes you just go charging off with no warning like this and it really is such a.."

His voice faded as the door slid silently shut behind them.

* * *

**A/N:**

* AMG Season 1, Episode 21. (Erratum: It was Skuld who passed out.)

** See the 'Giant Impact Hypothesis' on Wikipedia.

*** Ironically, secularists in Britain have attempted to ban Dante's _Inferno_ under the U.K.'s hate-speech laws.

*4 Matt 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13

*5 Rev 20:10

*6 Rev 20:4-6

*7 Rev 20:9

*8 John 11

*9 Mark 9:43-48

*10 Rev 20:14

*11 Matt 7:13-14, Mark 10:25, Luke 13:24, Luke 18:25

*12 See _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , Chapter 30.

* * *

**A/N:**

The notion that I floated in this chapter - that the Lake of Fire might actually be the Earth itself - is not in any way original with me. I first ran across it in a letter written to the editor of Midnight Call magazine, dated November 2011, pp 43-44:

_Dear Midnight Call,_

_I have always been of the opinion that "earth" will become the lake of fire. We know "the earth abideth forever" (Ecclesiastes 1:4), and the earth "should not be removed forever" (Psalm 104:5). So the earth must be eternal. In 2 Peter 3:10-12 we see the wood, hay and stubble of earth being burned up, but the elements melting (just as in the Christian life). The wood, hay and stubble are burned, but the gold, silver and precious stones (elements) come through the fire. All else will be destroyed because it has been touched by sin._

_Now if the earth "abideth forever", then the melted elements must combine with the magma and the earth becomes the lake of fire. Then the devil, the false prophet, death and hell are cast into the lake forever. A new heaven and new earth that has never been touched by sin will be the eternal home of those saved by the blood of our Lord Christ._

_The earth can abide forever. The pure in heart will live in a new heaven or earth that has never been touched by sin. There will be a separatio_ _n (great gulf) between the two, and so goes eternity. Or am I reading too much into these verses?_

The following is the written response from Arno Froese, the editor of Midnight Call:

_Thank you for the additional thoughts on the matter of the location of "hell"._

_Scholars differ about the future of the earth, whether renovated, renewed, restored, or totally replaced. Reading the first verse of Revelation 21, we are confronted with something unearthly, "a new heaven and a new earth". The first earth has passed away. Peter confirms, "we.. look for.. a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." My understanding is that this new earth is like a born again person whose old "tabernacle" perishes at death. Also, it says "there was no more sea." That means no biosphere - the old will cease to exist._

_As to the physical location of the lake of fire, I have no answer and think yours is as good as mine._

The magazine, Midnight Call, discusses prophecies of the upcoming Tribulation and the End Times, and it ties them into current world events. (I think Froese gets a little carried away sometimes, e.g., about Saddam Hussein back in 2003, but some of his current predictions do have merit, especially the ones about the future of the world's economic and monetary systems.)

I like reading Arno's stuff because he's always intellectually honest with himself, even though he is really hard core. If he is wrong about a prophecy (for example, Saddam = Anti-Christ) he admits it and moves on. So I figure that if he is cool with the Lake-of-Fire theory then it's cool with me. (With the caveat in this particular case that we don't really know for sure.)

Now, I will be the first to admit that the theory postulated in that letter about the LOF might be totally wrong, but it is _really_ elegant, and it fits the Bible perfectly in that 'oh-it-is-so-obvious-now' head-slapping kind of way. It explains why Jesus was so oddly insistent that the Earth will soon pass away. And it explains why Paradise will never be recreated on Earth even though that would seem to be the most logical ending to God's story.

-HuuskerDu

P.S. There is also a third kind of hell that Jesus mentions (the gap and Abraham's Bosom). It seems to be maybe a sort of a cross connect between the other two. But I think it is too much inside baseball for this story (there is some confusion about if this is just Jesus' parable versus a real place).

Another special case is Revelation 14:9-11. But it happens deep into the Tribulation, and it requires willful apostasy - the worship of the Beast and the receiving its of its Mark - in the face of incredible evidence that Bad Stuff is Happening. So I suspect it simply means that anybody who willfully marches alongside the Anti-Christ and his pals to the bitter end basically deserves what they get.

And then there is something else called conditionalism, which is gaining popularity in certain evangelical circles. It neatly answers the objections of the atheists, but in a different way. I am wary of conditionalism because the cults have glomped onto it (Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses), and I already know their Biblical exegesis is really whack, so that makes me skeptical right off the bat. I need to research it some more.

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/06/17):**

Please help me! I am a touch typist who is slightly dyslexic. I do spellcheck, but if you spot any word omissions, transpositions, wrong homonyms, etc., please PM me so I can fix them. For example, sometimes I will omit word in a sentence, or transpose words two, or repeat an expression repeatedly. :-) The problem seems to be at the sentence level. I have no problem with spelling, and spell-check fixes that sort of thing anyway.

I typically bang out a whole chapter in a single sitting. Then I will go back and re-read the new chapter, like 10 times, and I still miss all the mistakes! I think it's because I've memorized the chapter as I banged it out, and then I only see what is already in my head, not on the screen. So if you can please PM me if you spot any typos I will be very grateful.

Thanks in advance,  
-HuuskerDu


	34. The Citadel

**A/N:**

The final section of this chapter crosses over with chapter 30 of _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , [The Inception of Dreams](http://archiveofourown.org/works/950199/chapters/3816469).

* * *

**Chapter 34: The Citadel**

The school principal was standing at the lectern. He then turned and looked solemnly at the girl who was sitting in the leftmost chair behind him. In human terms she appeared to be about the age of 16. She was smiling proudly. She did a quick wink at her beaming parents who were sitting in the front row of the audience.

Then the principal said to her, "Unn, daughter of Thoriko, daughter of Skuld, please stand up and approach the podium."

She did. She was wearing a white gown and mortar cap. The principal then placed a while-and-gold ribbon with blue stars around Unn's neck.

"Congratulations. You are now a second class angel, with all the privileges, honors, and duties that the rank confers."

She bowed deeply and said, "Thank you sir."

Unn then turned and faced her parents. They were standing and clapping and shouting huzzahs in that charming way that only proud parents seem to be able to do in order to make their children want to die of embarrassment. "Woo-hoo!" "Go Unn!"

Chrono had also stood from her audience seat and was clapping enthusiastically. She knew that she would soon have the honor of tutoring another pupil with one-on-one L1 training, just like she had done with her mother and aunt so many centuries ago.

Chrono was more than a little surprised when she was selected for that honor. She had thought that Lindy would be the most logical choice to be Unn's new mentor. After all, she and Unn were already quite close. But for whatever reason Lindy respectfully declined the role and so the job fell to her.

Lindy was also present at the graduation ceremony. She smiled and clapped politely.

Then Lindy calmly stood up from the audience section and climbed up the stairs of the platform.

This was not part of the standard ceremony. Unn tilted her head slightly. Why was she approaching her?

Lindy gave the new second-class angel a benevolent smile. "Congratulations, my favorite niece."

Unn made her own wry smile in return. "I am your only niece, Aunt Lindy."

"Yes, well, be that as it may, this day is indeed very special. For I can now give this to you." Lindy removed the gold ring from the second finger of her left hand. She then placed it on Unn's hand.

Unn was shocked. "But Aunt Lindy, that is the ring of a Norn."

"Yes, it is. It is a very special ring. It is the Ring of the Norn of the Future. I was originally entrusted with it by your grandmother."

"But it's too soon..?"

Lindy gave her a bemused smile. "Why? Do you think you are not ready to wear such a ring?"

"Well, yes.., I mean no.. I mean I think I'm ready.. I mean I'm flattered and honored that you would think so, but.."

"But what?"

Unn was more than a little confused. And worried. "But Aunt Lindy.. those rings are meant to be worn for life. Please, you cannot give me this ring. Not now."

"Why not? Your grandmother gave it to me to give to you - at a time of my choosing - based on my own judgement and no one else's, not even your parents. And so I have decided that it will be today."

Unn saw that her mother was standing dumbstruck. She had not expected this either.

Unn shook her head. "Aunt Lindy, please, not yet."

"And what is the reason for your objection?"

"Because.. I know that the ring of a Norn is only to be transferred upon.." She could not bring herself to say the word.

Lindy said it for her. ".. upon death?"

Unn bowed her head down.

Lindy then used her finger to gently bring the girl's head up again to face her own. Then with her other hand she touched the ribbon around her neck. "One of the duties and obligations of becoming an L2 is that you must be prepared to make any and all necessary sacrifices in the performance of your duties. That includes even your own life if called upon to do so. Are you prepared to do that?"

Unn was resolute. She looked directly into Lindy's hazel eyes. "Yes, I am."

Lindy smiled at her. "So then please tell me, why would you think that I, as an L1, would do any less than you?"

Unn felt ashamed and had no answer. Lindy kissed the girl on the cheek. As she did so she whispered, "I love you. Be strong." Then she quietly sat down again in the audience section.

The ceremony continued with the other new L2s receiving their ribbons. Almost all of them appeared to be older than Unn.

Unn's mother, of course, saw the whole thing and was stunned. Thoriko was still trying to mentally process the implications. She bit her lip, then she leaned over and whispered to her sister, "What.."

Instead Lindy quietly said, "Chrono will be a wonderful mentor for her. And Unn will be such a great L1. Her unique combination of powers will give her some rather extraordinary abilities, don't you think?"

Thoriko grabbed Lindy's arm and hissed at her, "Stop changing the subject! What possessed you to do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know very well what."

"Ah, yes. Well, I was going to wait until we returned back to your office to tell you."

"Tell me?"

"I have an official report to give to you."

"A report.."

"Yes. You ordered me to disclose to you any conversations that I might have with Aunt Belldandy. And, after I checked with her and she gave me permission to tell you about those conversations that might affect your duties as Daisekaicho, I had agreed to do so." Lindy had fought hard for that caveat and won it. It was because there were some private things that she shared with her aunt that had nothing whatsoever to do with Asgard, things that she was not permitted to disclose to her sister, nor indeed to any other living person.

Thoriko whispered, "Just tell me. What's going on?"

Lindy sighed and said quietly, "Very well, here is my report: Based on my conversation with Belldandy, I need to advise you that you might need to find a new Daiabodaiza soon."

Thoriko stared at her sister, "Lindy.. what.."

Lindy sighed and said, "I told Aunt Belldandy that I was concerned about Mother. I was worried that she might be getting in over her head. She was never meant to fly that high."

"Too high.."

"Yes."

Thoriko asked, "Why? What might happen if she flys too high?"

Lindy told her.

"No!"

Keld was sitting on the opposite side of Thoriko and was not privy to the sisters' little _tête_ – _à_ – _tête_. He leaned over and whispered to his wife, "My dear, you're drawing attention to yourself. Can you please keep it down?"

She stifled herself and whispered, "Sorry." She then turned back to listen to Lindy, who went on to explain: "Mother was never meant to fly up that high. Her body isn't built for it. Have you ever heard of the story of Icarus?"

Thoriko had heard about that legend. "Oh no.." This time she managed to keep her voice down to a low decibel level. Then she asked, "And what about Father?"

"Oh, I think he'll be fine. The worst case scenario for him is that the tour gets aborted early."

"Then what happens?"

"He switches to the express lane, so to speak, and zooms up. But Mother, on the other hand.."

Thoriko grew agitated. "No! You need to go back and talk to Aunt Belldandy again. She would never permit her sister to be in that kind of danger!" Again heads were turning in their direction.

Lindy touched her sister's hand reassuringly. "Shush. You're quite right. Don't worry, Aunt Belldandy already discussed it with me. She's well aware of the problem. In fact she made a request of me. And since I am your Daiabodaiza it affects you as well. That is why I am officially reporting it to you as ordered."

Thoriko's voice became very soft. "She made a request?"

"Yes. It won't be easy for me, not easy at all, but I agreed to do it for Mother's sake. But I need to warn you, I might not be able to come back down here again afterward."

"What was it? The request?"

Lindy turned and faced her sister squarely. Then she told her the nature of Belldandy's request.

Thoriko stared at her sister in stunned silence.

Finally Lindy said, "Look, if you were in my place you would have done exactly the same thing."

The Daisekaicho slowly nodded and said nothing. What else could she say?

Her sister was right.

* * *

Level 3, Level 5, Level 8.

Keiichi and Skuld kept moving upward. And he saw things that amazed him, filling him with wonder and awe.

Level 10, Level 14.

As they went up Skuld seemed to become increasingly impatient. "Keiichi, we need to keep moving. Get a leg on!" He was barely able to keep up.

Skuld was flying upwards like a woman possessed.

They were approaching level 16. According to the map, it was a major dimensional junction. It was like the Grand Central Station of the Lower Levels.

Keiichi was impressed that Skuld was able to blow through level 16 like it wasn't even there.

Keiichi was now complaining. "We're going so fast now that I can't really see anything."

"Eh, this part is boring."

"It is?"

"Yeah, more complexity, more layers. Much of it is already beyond our ability to comprehend. Higher up a lot of it just becomes abstract sensory inputs."

"Well, it all does look pretty.."

"Granted. But without proper interpretation and understanding, without the ability to apply meaning to whatever the heck it is that we are seeing, we are like a pair of dogs sticking their heads out of the passenger window of a fast moving pickup truck. Sure, the wind feels great on our faces, and everything looks flashy, but we will soon have no idea what we are looking at anymore. The exception will be the sub-models."

"Sub-models?"

"Those are simplified constructs created inside a higher reality level, usually to accommodate people like us. There's a huge rat-nest of them on level 38. We will need to be careful there."

"Why? We might get lost?"

She nodded. "Really lost. That's because level 38 is where the line between the real and the unreal can get rather, uh, blurry. If we're not careful we can become trapped there forever, running in circles in somebody's idea of a dreamland."

"Who's idea?"

Skuld grumbled, "How should I know? Boy, you sure ask a lot of annoying questions for a mere mortal."

"Sorry.."

"Don't worry about it now. Worry about it when we get there. Now let's go!"

* * *

_Level 24_

Skuld suddently hit the brakes. "Hmm.. I feel something. I wonder if it might still be here.."

"What might be here?"

"Just a little thing.. Let me concentrate." She closed her eyes, then opened them again. "Oooh.. it is! It's here!" She whirled to face him with almost childlike excitement.

"Keiichi, this is so cool! I didn't think we'd catch up to it so soon." She re-checked the map. "Yep, it's still here on 24. Hmm.. it's accelerating upwards.. but maybe we can still catch up, maybe even get a quick peek. Wow! This might be our only chance to see it. C'mon, hurry!"

"See what?"

The door to waypoint 24-B opened. She held out her hand. "Come with me and I'll show you the most awesome flying vessel in the entire transverse."

"But I thought we were in a hurry to get up to level 38.."

"Oh, we gotta take a quick detour and see this, trust me." Her eyes were shining.

They passed through a door.

* * *

"Where are we?"

"Level 24 interstitial space. We are now in a subspace of three spatial dimension, a moving pocket."

"Is this one of those sub-models you were talking about?"

"No, this one is real. As real as it gets. It moves with it."

"It moves with what?"

"It moves with.." She looked around. Then she smiled. ".. _that_." She pointed behind him.

He turned and saw it.

"Whoa.."

It was rapidly approaching and appeared to be gaining speed.

It started to pass them by.

How to describe it?

By size? Compared to what, the Death Star? That was merely a puny sphere 160 kilometers in diameter, with a volume of only approximately 2,140,000 cubic kilometers. The object passing them by was a cube 1,844 kilometers on a side*, encompassing a volume of 6,690,000,000 cubic kilometers. It could easily host the entire population of Earth with oodles of room to spare. Over three thousand Death Stars could fit inside it.

By appearance? Then start with, say, the mother ship in the film _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ , with its shining crystals and brilliance. Now make it much larger and grander, and cubical instead of hemispherical. And cover it will sapphires, jasper, agate, emerald, onyx, ruby, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, turquoise, jacinth, and amethyst. And even then it would not even begin to approximate the glittering apparition that was now passing before their amazed eyes.

Skuld said, "Behold, the New Jerusalem. I never imagined that I would ever get a chance to actually see it with my own eyes like this. Keiichi, this is it."

"What is inside?"

"Everyone. Everybody. Everyone that got saved from Earth. They all have new bodies just like yours. And the Tree of Life is in there too, and that tree makes Yggdrasil look like a puny sapling in comparison, and through that tree runs a river that comes right out of the Throne itself."

"You mean He's sitting in there? In person?"

"Oh yeah. Right now. No temple or anything required. The Lamb of God. Face to face."

"Oh.. wow.. uh.. can.. can we go inside and see Him?"

She looked down. "No. That is to say, I can't, sorry. There are these high-level angels, immortal ones, guarding those 12 gates that could kick my.. well.. uh, nevermind that. The answer is no. Frankly I'm rather amazed that I was allowed to get even this close."

"I can't go in there.." She looked at him and placed her hand on his head ".. but you can, Keiichi."

"I.. I can?"

"You want to see inside? Now's your chance."

His eyes were mesmerized at the sight. "Can I?"

"Please go on, be my guest. This might be your only opportunity. It would have been your ride if I hadn't shanghaied you and put you on Belldandy's little pre-arranged tour instead. So yeah, go for it."

"Will you wait out here for me?"

"Of course. But don't stay too long. I'm worried I might lose you." It was because Skuld knew that the crystal city was moving faster and faster. Soon it would leave her and everyone else behind.

Keiichi passed through the huge gate. Skuld thought she caught a glimpse of the angel guarding it. She shuddered a bit. She then saw Keiichi was allowed to pass inside.

She then moved to get ahead of the huge cube, anticipating that when it passed her next it might already be moving too fast for her to keep up.

Time passed.

The cube flew past her again, and Skuld saw that an angel opened one of the twelve gates and Keiichi re-appeared and quickly returned to her side.

She smiled at him. "Well? How was it? What did you see?"

He remained silent. She thought that he looked slightly different somehow. Wait, was he glowing slightly? It might have been her imagination. "Hmm?"

He simply smiled back at her. She nodded and understood. What Keiichi saw in there was for his eyes only, and his alone.

They stopped and watched the cube glide away into the distance, going higher and higher and higher on its journey. And so it would continue until the heavens themselves passed away and it finally arrived in the place prepared for it, in a new heaven and a new earth.

And so it was gone, and everything around them was dark again.

They both remained in that utterly empty darkness, silent and alone, each one of them within their own private thoughts about what they had just seen. And they stayed that way for a long time.

Finally Skuld said, "Let's go."

* * *

_Level 27_

"Keiichi, stay close to me. This is dangerous. I'm turning on my cloak."

"Cloak? What's wrong?"

"Consumptors." Skuld was ready because the map had warned about them.

"What are they?"

"Destroyers. Negative force. They search out and consume any life they can find. Or any form of coherent intelligence, whether organic or artificial. They are kind of like the Berserkers in your universe, only worse, if that's possible."

"Berserkers? Who?"

"Didn't I tell you about them before?"

"Nope."

"Huh.. I thought I did. I didn't mention Fermi's Paradox to you?"

"You might have back on Orpheus. I don't remember if you explained it to me or not."

She ignored him. It was because she spotted something ahead of them. She quickly stopped him, then she grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close.

"Shhh, be quiet." She pointed. Keiichi thought he saw a malevolent black void. "I'm giving that thing a wide berth. Stay close to me."

After some time passed she said, "Sorry for the rather slow detour. I didn't know how sensitive their motion trackers were. Okay, the coast is clear now." She turned off the cloak.

Soon they arrived at the exit portal of level 27 and the door opened. More white.

She flopped down on the endless white floor. "I'm bushed. Time for a break."

Keiichi sat cross-legged on the glassy surface. "So tell me about Fermi's Paradox then."

Skuld was staring upward again at nothing. "Hmm?"

"Who is Fermi and what is his paradox?"

"Where is everybody?"

"Huh?"

"I said, 'Where is everybody?' That is the paradox."

"I don't get it."

"Where are they? The aliens? Unless intelligent life on Earth is practically unique in the galaxy, some alien race or other ought to have visited Earth by your time, either via spacecraft or unmanned probes. Or at least sent a 'Hello' message. Something."

"But wait, you Asgardians have visited Earth. Doesn't that count?"

"True, we did, but that was only under very strict rules and limitations because we are so powerful, so dangerous. That's why those rules exist. And that is why Asgard itself was isolated in its own pocket universe. It's a safety precaution, a firewall, to protect the primary universe in case things in Asgard go all pear shaped."

"Which they did. Those idiots almost wiped themselves out in that Last Battle."

Skuld sighed, "Even angels can be flawed, Keiichi. You know that better than most."

"Tell me about it. And we humans are just as badly messed up. Say, do you think that is why God created that living bridge to us lowly humans? To reach us before we kill ourselves, say, in a nuclear holocaust or something?

"Hmm, I never thought of that. I suppose it's possible. But there's no way to know for sure."

Skuld then re-crossed her legs as she lay on the white glassy floor with her arms folded behind her head.

She said quietly to herself, "Humans operate at such a low level. It's remarkable."

Keiichi heard it. "Why do I feel insulted..."

She turned her head and gave him a benevolent smile. "Sorry. What I mean is that you straddle the line between fleshly animal desires and spiritual ones. Humans exist right on the dividing line."

Keiichi was thoughtful. "And that causes temptation."

"Much of it, yes. Humans use their intellect to try to justify their wants. That happens everywhere in human civilization. In the Soviet Union for example, Stalin told his scientists to find ways to prove that Communism worked, to prove it was scientifically valid. And they did. Thousands of papers were published, with intricate math, all to 'prove' what they wanted to believe, or what they were told to believe."

"What a waste. I'm glad that foolishness stopped happening during my time."

"You think so? You're wrong. It still happened much of the time. Even in America's great research universities, the researchers would submit grant proposals for funding to the government, to the NSF, NIH, or NOAA. The proposals cited what they intend to prove or discover. And so they get their funding, and lo! They find it! Amazing!"

"Wow, what a coincidence.."

"It is a dirty secret in the academic world that most scientific research is either pointless or full of biases and unproved suppositions, essentially junk. Track who funds the research and you can predict the end result. Just follow the money."

"Like the Tobacco Institute funding research on smoking."

"I was thinking more like the cabal that controls US federal funding for climate research. If you submit a grant proposal that even hints that you are looking to refute claims of the global warmists, they will slam the money spigot off, boot you from publication in their peer-reviewed journals, and destroy your academic career."

"But isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Science is the search for truth, isn't it?"

"It ought to be. But sadly much of the time it isn't. Not anymore. Oh, it was like that early on when most researchers were self-funded amateurs like Thomas Edison, James Maxwell, and Guglielmo Marconi, but no longer. Most real scientific discoveries are a fluke. Did you know that at any given time there are only about 50 individuals or so in the entire world who have the ability to create any real breakthroughs, or to make any real discoveries? Up until 2001 most of them gravitated to the great research universities of the United States, which was why that country led the world scientifically. But after 9/11 the legal immigration door for the world's geniuses to come to the US had slammed shut. Those 50 geniuses now stay home or go elsewhere. And so the flame that powered true scientific innovation in the United States had essentially gone out. Now it's all about researchers getting grant funding and cranking out an endless series of obscure scientific papers that nobody reads except themselves.

"It used to be the rule that to get taxpayer grant funding, the raw data and the computer source code had to be shared on request. That way other scientists could verify your work, spot errors, shoddy statistical analysis, and so on. But then the grant agencies quietly changed the rules in the 1990s. Researchers could now hide all their raw data and hide the source code for their computer models."

Keiichi asked, "How did they get away with it?"

"Because the foxes ran the hen-house. Up until the 1990s, if you wanted a US federal research grant you had to make available all your raw data. If another researcher wanted to see the actual experimental results you had to give to them. If you had a computer model you had to provide the source code upon request, kind of like the GPL. Not anymore. Like I said, they quietly changed the rules. Now everybody hoards their raw data. Nobody releases the source code. Especially the global warmists. Those computer models have totally flunked all their climate predictions from 1998 onwards. In 2009 a model from the Climate Research Unit [CRU] of the University of East Anglia got leaked. It was full of hacks that biased the temperatures upward, growing for later time periods. If you fed that computer model with random data, with white noise, it would generate a temperature trend line that accelerated upwards like a hockey stick. The input didn't matter. That is why a computer model without its source code is worthless scientifically. Or it ought to be."

"Follow the money."

"Pretty much. There's big money in the global warming hysteria. Grant funding, carbon credits, buying and selling offsets. How do you think Al Gore nearly became a billionaire?"

Keiichi shifted his sitting position on the hard glassy floor. "Oh well. So anyway, getting back to Fermi's Paradox, are you saying that no space aliens ever said 'Hello' to us? Not once?"

"Sad to say, they never did. Keiichi, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence [SETI] had been ongoing for decades by your time. Near the end, they crowed-sourced the signal analysis out to over a million home-based computers, each as powerful as a Cray supercomputer of 30 years prior. They searched practically the whole spectrum for a modulated signal across both hemispheres of the sky. They found nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Oh, there were a couple odd one-shot signals, like the famous 'Wow' signal in 1977**, but never anything definite."

"So what's the explanation then? Why is the universe so silent?"

"The answer is simple."

"Well?"

"Everybody is hiding."

"Hiding from what?" Keiichi chuckled, "The Borg or something?"

Skuld wasn't laughing. "Basically, yes."

"You're serious."

"I am. Look, it only takes one [bleep]-hole alien race to ruin the whole neighborhood."

"Wait, the Borg are real?"

"No. It's much more primitive than that. It only takes one jerk race to decide that they have to be the only ones to exist in the galaxy. Some time long ago, nobody knows when exactly, some long dead and unnamed alien race built and launched a set of self-replicating probes called Von Neumann probes, named after the famous computer scientist who first postulated them."

"Self-replicating probes."

"Yeah. It is actually not all that particularly hard for an advanced civilization to create them. The unmanned probes were automated and operated on fairly simple software. They travelled at sublight speed. They searched for coherent signals and home it on them. When they get a lock they then shove an asteroid to set it on a collision course with the signal source. Then they make more probes from raw material in the ejecta and go out again."

"But that's awful!"

"I know. We call them Berserkers, named after the SF author Fred Saberhagen who first wrote several stories about them. Berserkers are just another type of predator, one that preys on intelligent life. Remember what I showed you earlier - that predators will always be found anywhere life exists? It is a universal constant."

"So is that what happened to the Earth?"

"No. But it would have. Sooner or later."

"Really?"

"Keiichi, the TV signals transmitted from _I Love Lucy_ in the 1950's were dozens of light-years out in space by your time. Eventually a Berserker would have locked on and it would have all been over. So even if the KBO didn't hit, Earth was going to be doomed anyway. I'm sorry***."

"But if Earth's technology had gotten advanced enough, quickly enough, before they got there then perhaps a defense.."

"No. Then Earth would have just succumbed to gray goo or something else."

"You think so? Why?"

"Because it's a simple fact that most sentient races don't reach the level of spaceflight, or if they do, it is not for very long. Such civilizations typically self-destruct. Or they turn inward. Or they turn murderous."

"You mean like the Scorpio galaxy, the Empire fighting the Rebel Alliance and all that."

"Yes. It was remarkable how long their space-faring era lasted given how unstable and violent it was. All that destruction. But all that occurred a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."

"What happened to them?"

"Some moved on, but most destroyed themselves. The typical pattern."

"The typical pattern?"

"Eventually these civilizations self-destruct. They reach a critical turning point. Technology progresses faster, then faster, then even faster still, until the line goes almost straight up. Vernon Vinge called it the 'singularity'. When this happens every individual possesses incredible power. They become demigods, or they think they are. It's not unlike how Asgard was."

"And it takes just one bad apple to wreck the whole barrel. Like Sena."

"Yes. When every person has the power and technology to destroy the world, sooner or later one of them will. Life is delicate. It takes only one deflected asteroid or one vial of grey goo to wipe out all life overnight. It could even be accidental, a science experiment that goes out of control."

"It's unstable."

"The problem is that Earth's technology would have rapidly progressed to the point where any idiot could build a world-ending weapon, be it biosphere-eating nanites or whatever, even by mistake."

"So Earth never got to see a cool Star Trek future."

"Sadly, no. Life is just too fragile. The Star Trek film _Into Darkness_ showed how just one person could mess up even as advanced a civilization as that one. It's just too easy to drop stuff from orbit."

Keiichi's shoulders slumped. "Great. Now you are just bumming me out."

"Sorry about that. Didn't mean to. I'm just trying to explain why God had to cut short the story's ending and rescue the survivors. Otherwise nobody would have survived."*4

Skuld finally went silent and closed her eyes for a bit. Meanwhile, Keiichi sat and thought quietly about what she had just told him.

Eventually Skuld uncrossed her legs and extended her arms on the floor above her head. She stretched herself out on the glassy surface like a cat, then she gave out a big yawn. Keiichi looked at her stretched-out figure with a sad expression on his face. He felt melancholy.

Then she stood up and smiled at him. "Sorry if I depressed you. Anyway, I'm fully rested now. You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's get going."

"On to 38?"

"Yeppers." Then she gave him a mischievous grin. "And when we get there I might have a little surprise for you. It will really cheer you up."

"Oh dear, you said 'little'..."

"So?"

"Skuld, it seems that every time you say the word 'little', it tends to be a bit, well, understated."

"Naw.. I don't do that, do I?"

"Yes you do. A lot. First it was a little proposal, then a little wolf, a little toy, a little tour, a little cube, now a little surprise. I know your style, Skuld."

"It's only because I simply love watching the expression on your face. It's so adorable." This time Keiichi stepped back before Skuld could playfully muss up his hair again.

"C'mon, just tell me. What is it?"

She put her hands behind her back and looked up. "It's just a little teeny weeny surprise."

Keiichi crossed his arms. "Feh."

"I can hardly wait myself. It's why I've been pushing us along so fast."

Keiichi turned his head away. "Whatever. Sorry, I just don't feel like playing games with you right now."

Skuld approached him again and held him gently. "Keiichi, it is something very special. Something that I guarantee will make you really happy. Me too."

Keiichi gave her an annoyed look and said nothing. Skuld finally relented. "Okay, I will clue you in just beforehand. You deserve that much."

"All right, fine. Let's go."

The door closed behind them.

* * *

_Level 38, sublevel 1_

"Skuld, you're kidding! She's actually here!?"

"Yeah." Skuld's eyes were shining again.

"C'mon!" He ran.

"Hey! Wait for me!" She quickly followed just behind him, laughing and jumping like a child.

They both spotted her at the same time. She was facing away from them, oblivious to the impending three-way collision.

From behind, Skuld tackled her mother's waist at the same moment Keiichi that tackled her feet. They all went down on the grassy boulevard next to the café table where she and Peorth had just been seated.

They were both rolling on the grass, hugging and kissing her.

Peorth was beaming at the two new visitors. "Keiichi, Skuld, _bienvenue_ to level 38!"

Skuld spit out some grass, then she yelled "Mom!" and tackled her again. Keiichi was now sitting by himself on his grass-stained butt and laughing. "I'll let your daughter win this contest."

The former Air Marshal said, "Skuld, calm down! We have plenty of time. All the time in the world.."

Skuld wiped her face with her now rather heavily grass-stained white frock, "Yeah, we do. Oh Mom, I missed you so much. It's been so long.." She hugged her again.

Then the athletic woman pulled up Keiichi to his feet with an effortless single-handed lift. "Let me look at both of you. Ooh.. I like the new ears."

Skuld stood right next to him, "Yeah! It really makes him look a lot more handsome don't you think?"

Her adoptive mother smiled and crossed her arms in approval. "Yes, it certainly does. And I like your look too, Skuld. You are really becoming quite a pretty girl."

"And check out his new height!"

"Hmm?"

"Look, he's at least 2-3 centimeters taller! I think it will really help his dancing, don't you think?"

"But wait, mmmpphff.." She did not complete her words for the simple reason that someone had covered her mouth.

It was Peorth.

It was because she was about to reveal something, a fact that Peorth could see that Skuld did not know.

For you see, Keiichi's first wife knew his body intimately: the shape of the mole on his back, the jug ears, his left hammertoe. That included his height. Exactly.

It was because his first wife was about to blurt out an obvious fact that Keiichi had, until now, been trying rather hard not to reveal to his second ex-wife, out of his respect for her. But, as they went up higher and higher, the gradual changes in Skuld's personality and appearance were becoming too obvious to ignore anymore.

It was because it was not Keiichi who was getting taller.

It was Skuld who was getting shorter.

* * *

* 12,000 stadia, Rev 21:16

** See the article on the famous 'Wow! signal' on Wikipedia.

*** This rather depressing scenario was laid out in Greg Bear's end-of-the-world novel, _The Forge of God_ (1987), which was nominated for a Hugo award. Ironically, the recent worldwide shift from analog TV to digital TV (where the RF signal is so compressed that it looks exactly like the random static of a natural radio source) might save us. Otherwise, curse you, Lucy!

*4 Matt 24:22, Mark 13:20


	35. The Danger of Dreams

**A/N:**

This chapter crosses over with chapter 30 of _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , [The Inception of Dreams](http://archiveofourown.org/works/950199/chapters/3816469).

* * *

**Chapter 35: The Danger of Dreams**

_Level 38, sublevel 1_

I was sitting at an outdoor café in Paris with my good friend Peorth while drinking coffee. The fact that half of Paris was hanging directly over our heads upside-down did not bother me at all.

We reviewed our most recent failed dream run on Mr. Cobb. I told Peorth that we should not try another dream run on him until we came up with a new plan, a fresh one.

We were using Peorth's memory-snapshot power to reset Cobb's mind after each run. That way he would not remember all of our embarrassing failures. It was part of Peorth's standard matchmaking powers that she used to help guide her subjects to find True Love. That way if she botched a pairing attempt she could simply reset the couple and try again with a different approach.

It was our duty as psychopomps to wake up Cobb and help him move on to his final destination. But no matter what we tried, no matter what we did, we simply could not convince Mr. Cobb to leave Limbo and wake up.

By now I had lost count of how many times we had dived into Cobb's mind to try to pull him out of Limbo. Frankly, I was ready to give up. But I knew that would be a violation of our charter. Failure was not permitted for a psychopomp. Sooner or later everyone in our charge must be guided home.

I stared at my coffee cup. "Peorth, this will never work."

She smiled at me, "Continue to be patient, mon cherie."

"It's hopeless."

"I have an idea."

I sighed, "Not again." I knew that her 'ideas' never worked.

But I had to ask, "Okay, so what is it this time?"

"I will go for help."

"Huh? From where? From Upstairs? You know very well that we are maxed out here. We cannot travel above level 38. Nobody can. You know that. It's a hard ceiling for our kind. No one from Asgard can go above level 38."

To be more precise, no one who originated from below our level could surpass it. Now, higher beings who had originated from somewhere far above us, entities like Belldandy or Anzus, could of course cross the level 38 boundary-line in either direction, and at any time they wished. But there was no way for us to contact them from here.

"Oui. So I will call for help from somewhere else."

"From where?"

"I will call for help from below. From Asgard."

That made even less sense. I knew Peorth could be pretty daffy sometimes. "That's stupid. Nobody else from Asgard has come up this high in a millennium."

"That is true."

"Well?"

She looked down. "Mon ami, I have a confession to make."

Uh-oh. "Peorth, what did you do this time?"

Peorth leaned in and confided in me. "I have already made the call."

Sigh, Peorth was scheming again. Oh well. Let's see what kind of crazy wacked-out plan she has cooked up now.

She may have the beauty, but I had the brains. So I decided to humor her. "Okay, Peorth, so you made the call.."

"Oui." Her eyes were glittering brightly.

I knew I was going to regret this. "And, may I ask, just who did you call?"

Instead of responding she stood up from the café table.

I caught the hint and stood up too. What was going on?

Then I heard it. It was behind me, two pairs of fast-running feet.

Huh?

Before I could turn around I was gang-tackled from behind. And as I went down I heard a voice.

"Mom!"

Well, well, whaddaya know.

I always keep underestimating that Frenchwoman.

Fortunately I had just enough warning time to prevent my combat reflexes from kicking in. I mean, the last thing I wanted to do was injure my own family. Instead I relaxed by body and let them knock me down to the ground in a double-grapple. I found myself rolling on the grass while being hugged and kissed by the two people that I had loved most in the world.

I laughed and rolled around with my family and hugged them silly. I was so deliriously happy. I think I might have even squeed a bit like a little girl. Oh dear, that was so unprofessional of me. But only Peorth saw it, so I didn't mind.

I had missed my family so much. Our long separation was due, of course, to the little fact that I happen to be slightly dead.

It was all because back on Earth I had given up my life in order to stop Hild's greatest (and final) attack against Valhalla, in which she had attempted to overthrow all of the gods and goddesses of Asgard once and for all. I had few regrets about that day. After all, I was only doing my duty as a Valkyrie.

You see, Hild's plan was to wipe out all of the first-class gods and demons on both sides by deliberately kicking off the long-foretold last battle, the Götterdämmerung of Ragnarök. Previously she had made secret arrangements so that only she herself would survive that holocaust. And then, after the smoke had cleared, she had planned to take up the reins of power from the shattered and devastated world of Asgard and rule it all. She would become the new Queen of the Gods and remake that world in her own image.

It had taken everything we had to stop Hild's final plan. Belldandy and I knew that neither of us could beat Hild on our own. But we believed that the five of us all working together, Belldandy, Holy Bell, Cool Mint, Spear Mint, and myself, just might be able to do it if we combined all our strength. By that time Belldandy was only a spirit, of course, but she still had her enormous power.

Belldandy had laid out our battle strategy for us. I thought it was a masterpiece of military planning.

Our pre-emptive attack took place shortly after Hild and her lieutenants had secretly departed from the Niflheim Gate in Hawaii and were busy flying at high speed over the Pacific Ocean towards the Valhalla Gate in Japan. We made our surprise attack in the empty expanse of Earth's largest ocean in order to keep human casualties to a minimum. We flew up and did a high-speed dive from orbit, and our kinetic impact created an explosion that was four times larger than the greatest nuclear explosion in human history*. And so we successfully decapitated Niflheim's command-and-control leadership right at the start of the final battle.

My only real regret during that final dive was that I thought I would never see my family again. But today, thanks to my friend Peorth, I am happy to report that I was wrong.

Good old Peorth. You know, as annoying as she can be sometimes, deep down she is actually a wonderful person. And don't let her looks fool you. She's not weak. She had fought valiantly during Ragnarök, when that nordic goddess of love had transformed herself into a fearsome goddess of war.

She was so brave and I admired her so much for it. She knew that Ragnarök had doomed her, as it did all the L1s. And so her goal during that battle was not victory, but rather mitigation.

It was because Peorth was the leader of the sysadmin team that was responsible for operating the Yggdrasil supercomputer complex. Her sysadmins had bravely remained at their posts for as long as possible during the battle and took many casualties in doing so. But when the defense of the complex finally became a lost cause, Peorth evacuated the remaining L2s and L3s to a remote bunker to give them some hope for survival. She ordered her remaining two L2 sysadmins, Ere and Ex, to look after the rest and said farewell to them all. She then flew up to become a decoy to lead the enemy away.

And there in the air during that tremendous battle she spied a target of opportunity: Nidhogg, the dragon that forever gnawed at the roots of Yggdrasil.

Peorth had told me that she always despised that serpent for feeding on her beloved tree like a parasite. Previously, Nidhogg had always chewed on the roots from underneath, where they served as a barrier between Niflheim and Asgard. It was always munching on those roots like a giant fat mole. The continuous damage had added a random factor to Yggdrasil's data computations, forcing Peorth to apply endless corrections and adjustments. But now that beast was free and flying out on the open air, and it was attacking the helpless tree directly, tearing off its great branches and causing incredible amounts of damage to it with its terrible teeth and claws.

And so had Peorth dived in and attacked Nidhogg with a fearsome wrath. She wrapped its great bloated bulk in a weave of spiky rose vines covered with long thorns. The dragon snapped and clawed at her, but she evaded it as she spun her web. Soon it could no longer stay aloft and it began to fall. But then, just as Peorth was floating motionless in mid-air for a moment to catch her breath and admire her handiwork, the beast's head unexpectedly broke free from those vines. Its head had then lunged forward and snapped Peorth in half just before falling to earth. There the beast was swiftly slain by the _einherjar_ massing on the ground below.

And so now Peorth is up here with me. At the moment she was standing over the three of us with a huge smile on her face. She greeted our two new visitors warmly, "Keiichi, Skuld, _bienvenue_ to level 38!"

Keiichi finally disengaged from me. He sat on the grass laughing as he looked up at me. He said, "I'll let your daughter win this contest."

I nodded thanks, then I tried to gently pry Skuld off of me. Her head was still pressed into my chest so I still hadn't seen her face yet. I finally said, "Skuld, calm down! We have plenty of time. All the time in the world."

That was a bit of an understatement, as the passage of time up here is basically irrelevant. First, it was because an arbitrary gap of time can pass when crossing between levels. And when going down it was possible to re-enter the lower time stream at any prior point in time given the proper locus. Second, the passage of time in the higher levels does tend to be rather, well, uhm, difficult to measure. Peorth said it was because time up here was 'multi-dimensional', whatever that meant.

I had asked Peorth how long she thought she and I had been living up here on level 38. She said it could have been forever. There was no way to know.

I understood. You see, that was how the afterlife worked. After you die there are time-skips in what you experience, like in a dream. The reason is simply because we are not infinite beings. Our minds have only finite capacity to remember new events, so we have only finite memories in an infinite place.

Skuld finally pulled away from me and I was finally able to stand up. She wiped her face with her now rather heavily grass-stained white frock, then she looked up at me and said, "Yeah, we do. Oh Mom, I missed you so much. It's been so long.." Then she lunged at me again. I gently returned her hug and slowly rocked my daughter back and forth.

And that was so weird in itself. That I had a family. You see, the life of a combat Valkyrie is supposed to be a solitary one. When Tyr assigned me to replace Belldandy to serve out Keiichi's wish I had assumed that it was merely because Belldandy had wanted to give him maximum protection. So Tyr had assigned Valhalla's strongest combat warrior to help keep him safe. At first I didn't want the job because I had believed that it was Tyr's punishment for my reckless behavior when I tried to save Belldandy from Hild's attack**. But I did my duty and took up residence at the temple.

During my stay, Skuld and I worked together to transform the temple grounds into a hyper-defended Fortress of Doom. By the time we were finished, the temple was better protected than even Valhalla itself. Okay, so maybe we went overboard a little bit. I admit that installing the Death Star laser might have been overkill. But hey, you can never be too careful. I mean, Keiichi's life was at stake.

Anyway, like I said, it was a forced arrangement. Forced on the two of us. Neither of us wanted it. Neither of us was ready for it, me especially. We were stuck together. Eventually we started talking a lot and we got to know each other, how alike we were, and that we were both loners. Then eventually things happened. And before I knew it I was married, became a mother, and had a family.

And during that wonderful year I had transformed: I learned how to love instead of kill. I was able to pour out my love at all five levels, including the fifth and most mysterious one. That was the strangest thing of all.

Skuld finally let go of me, so I bent over and pulled up Keiichi from the grass with one hand. Then I grouped the two of them together in front of me for a gander. I smiled and said, "Let me look at both of you."

I gave them both a good once-over. I saw that Keiichi looked basically the same as he did in life, except his khakis and T-shirt were now white instead of dirty gray. And his ears... very nice. "Ooh.. I like the new ears."

Skuld turned and gave Keiichi an appreciative look. "Yeah! It really makes him look a lot more handsome, don't you think?"

I crossed my arms in approval. "Yes, it certainly does."

I then looked Skuld over. She appeared physically to be about the human equivalent of a teenage girl around the age of 16 or so. She was a bit taller than Keiichi, but not by much. And I saw that her face still had some of its round baby-face appearance. That would have probably gone away as she got older.

I smiled at my adopted daughter. "And I like your look too, Skuld. You are really becoming quite a pretty girl."

I thought it was a pity that she never had the chance to grow up to become an adult. I could tell that she would have become an amazing beauty. I bet as an adult should might have even beaten Urd on that score. She would never be as curvy or as buxom as her oldest sister, of course, but I knew that she would have grown up to have that beautiful and magical virginal look, like a Walt Disney princess.

Then Skuld said, "And check out his new height!"

What? What was she talking about? I could see that his height hadn't changed a whit. "Hmm?"

"Look, he's at least 2-3 centimeters taller! I think it will really help us dancing, don't you think?"

That didn't make any sense at all. I saw that Peorth gave me a look. Skuld didn't see it.

Regrettably I missed her hand signal, so I was about to ask an awkward question about Skuld's height comparison because I could obviously see that Keiichi had not grown a millimeter taller. So I said, "But wait.."

Then I stopped talking for the simple reason that Peorth had quickly covered my mouth. What the heck?

Then I saw from the alarmed look on the faces of both Keiichi and Peorth that I had stepped in it. Sigh, me and my big fat mouth. I nodded and Peorth removed her hand.

Skuld giving me an odd look. "What was that all about?"

Argh, I need to think quickly. I lamely said, "Oh, sorry.. I do apologize. I wasn't thinking."

Skuld tilted her head and asked, "Apologize for what?"

I was stalling for time. "Well..."

"Well what?"

Ugh, I am such a rotten liar! What could I say? I started to think furiously. I knew that whatever excuse I came up with would sound really lame and unconvincing. Oh well. Uhm..

Then Peorth jumped in to save me. Bless you, Peorth.

She said to Skuld, "Well, my dear, you had mentioned dancing. And your lovely mother has exceptional martial arts training, which makes her a rather good dancer too. You see, I was afraid that she was about to compare her dancing ability to yours. That would not be appropriate."

Skuld asked, "Why not? It doesn't bother me."

Peorth quickly replied, "Well, uhm, it could start comparisons in other areas, if you understand what I mean." She gave a sly wink that was impossible to miss. "And in my professional experience I know that it is never a good thing for two ex-wives to make such comparisons..."

I wasn't listening anymore. My mind reeled. _Ex-wife_? When did that happen?

And then I remembered: It was during our final dive together when Belldandy had revealed to me all of the amazing and wonderful events that she predicted would happen in the future***. That list included the fact that one day Keiichi would marry my daughter. Hoo boy, how did I forget that one?

But wait, Belldandy's prediction could not have been accurate. I had just given Skuld a good once-over. I mean, look at that girl... she's too young! Granted she was past puberty but she's obviously underage for anything like marriage. Or for.. or for.. hoo boy. Please tell me she didn't. He didn't. They didn't. She's underage!

You see, by 'underage' I do not mean chronologically (Skuld was at least 600 years old when I died) or subjectively (at least 120 years by that measure), but rather physiologically. By that standard she appeared to me to be about 16 years old. Definitely not an adult. And her mental age was probably the same if her greeting to me was any indication of her emotional maturity.

What the hell? Keiichi had obviously taken advantage of an immature girl's feelings. That bastard! I was starting to feel rather angry with him.

I was just about to open my mouth and make a scathing comparison between him and Woody Allen. Grumble. But wait, if he is Woody Allen then that means I'm.. I'm Mia Farrow? Ack!

Oh yeah, I was getting really pissed now. And that is never a good thing if you are my target. Keiichi, you are now in big trouble.

Peorth could read me like a book. She could see my anger quickly building, so she quietly pressed her foot on top of mine.

I didn't care. I was going to give it to Keiichi with both barrels. I was now clenching my fists as I prepared to speak.

Then she pressed her spiked heel down on my foot. Hard. Ouch. I understood and shut up. But still, there had darn well better be a good explanation for all this, and I needed to hear it fast.

Peorth spoke again. "No, it is not good for two wives to compare themselves in how they please their husband. It will always create needless conflict. So please, I implore both of you, do not embarrass poor Keiichi here. Especially during such a happy time as this."

Even though I could barely control myself, I decided - for now - to keep my mouth shut. But I was giving Keiichi a nasty glare. He saw it and gave me his usual helpless look. It was the same look that he gave anyone whenever Skuld had caught him with Belldandy in an apparently compromising position. _No! It's not how it looks! I can explain everything!_

Then Skuld wrapped her arm around his, as if to claim ownership. He was clearly uncomfortable. Then she gave me a challenging look.

We stared at each other just like two ex-wives who were meeting each other for the first time. Which of course we were.

Then she did it.

She said something that sent me completely over the edge.

She said it in front of all of us. And if I had any doubts about her immaturity, they were totally dispelled by that remark.

This is what she said:

"You might be a better dancer than me, but he told me he didn't appreciate all of your other gymnastics."

Keiichi whirled and yelled, "Skuld! Shut up!"

But it was too late. I knew exactly what she meant. I reclenched my hands and took a step forward. I had probably appeared more menacing than I had intended because Keiichi instinctively took a step backward away from me. I said softly to Skuld, "Excuse my miniscule pardon?"

Peorth sighed.

Skuld was unperturbed by my reaction. "You heard me. He told me he didn't appreciate all your nutty gymnastics in bed."

Keiichi was now waving his arms. "No! Wait!"

Yes, it was too late.

It was because the War Between the Wives had now started.

I gave Skuld an evil smile. I knew that I would win this war. I said nonchalantly, "Oh, really now?"

She looked at her nails as she said matter-of-factly, "Yeah, sorry about that."

I decided to lay out some fish line. "And so he told you that? I see."

"Yes, he did."

I laid out more line. "And you believed him?"

"Yes."

I yanked the line to set the hook. "Then he's lying."

"What?"

I started to reel it in. I took another step. "Look at my face. I am telling you right now, he liked it."

"Impossible." She was oddly adamant.

Huh? I knew the facts were on my side. So I asked, "Why?"

"Because I am mentally bonded with him, silly. He's been living inside my head for hundreds of years. He can't keep any secrets from me."

That threw me off a bit. Did Belldandy tell me that? They bonded? Dang, I think she did mention it. I had forgotten that.

I was badly off balance so I merely replied, "And you are sure he feels that way?"

Skuld crossed her arms confidently. "Of course I am. Why should I think otherwise?"

Something didn't add up. So I plunged ahead. "Well, for starters, I know for a fact that he loved me doing that to him."

Skuld frowned. "Now you are the one who is lying."

"I'm not. I don't know how to lie, remember? I literally don't know how. Look at me. Look at my face. I'm telling you he loved it."

Skuld recrossed her arms. "Then you must have learned how to lie in your job up here, whatever that is. Who knows how long you've been here? You've certainly had enough time to master the art of deception by now."

I decided to just lay it out plainly. "Skuld, I know my man. And I know for a fact that he loved every wild minute with me. Believe me, he liked it, and that's no lie. Look, maybe he's just trying not to hurt your feelings. You ever think of that, hmm?"

Skuld gave me a black scowl. Then she turned to face Keiichi. "All right, you need to decide. Which of us did you like better?"

Keiichi looked like he wanted to die all over again. "Please don't make me do this.."

Peorth spoke up. "Keiichi, you are quite right. Both of you please stop it. Speaking as an expert on love, this kind of comparison is counter-productive to a healthy relationship. So I implore both of you.."

In unison Skuld and I yelled at Peorth, "SHUT UP!" Then we turned back to face Keiichi. I saw that Skuld now had his arm locked in a vice grip. Her eyes were boring into him. "Well? Which one of us did you like better?" Then I took another menacing step towards him as the deadliest ex-Valkyrie in Heaven.

Keiichi looked helpless. "Please.." But the poor hapless man was now stuck in the middle of a feud between two rather angry and powerful spirits.

He decided to come clean. "Skuld, I told you the truth. She was wild and I got pretty banged up sometimes. But I never said I didn't like that - I only said I was happy you were different than that."

That surprised Skuld. "What?"

He quickly added, "And I was happy with you too. You were just different. And wonderful. Every woman is unique."

I was smiling. I won.

Skuld was sputtering. "Keiichi, I can't believe you snowed me!"

"What? Hey, I didn't.."

"Keiichi! You told me you liked me better! You liked that I was always gentle with you!"

"I did! I do! I did like it! But I also liked.. adventure.. too sometimes. That's all. I liked you both. Equally. Yes, both. But in different ways, that's all. But equally. And that's the honest truth."

Skuld still wasn't happy. "But.. I thought.. arggh!"

I took a small bow. Peorth gave me a disappointed look. I knew I'd have to apologize to her later, Keiichi too. And to Skuld eventually when we made up. But it was worth it, heh.

Keiichi was still gamely trying to calm her down. "Look, Skuld, sometimes we don't dwell on certain topics with our loved ones because we know it would upset them or hurt them. And I avoided making that kind of comparison, or even thinking about it, because you were my wife and I loved you. I didn't want to hurt you."

Skuld gave me a defeated look. "So she's not lying then?"

He said, "No. It's just like she told us, she can't lie. It is part of her basic character and that will never change. You know Belldandy is like that too. In some ways even more so."

Skuld started to sulk. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Ok, so your first wife was a sexual acrobat and I was just sloppy seconds. I get it now, fine."

"Aw, c'mon, it wasn't like that and you know it."

"Whatever, fine." She started to walk away as if to get some air. She took a few steps toward the front glass of the café.

Then I heard Peorth catch her breath. My combat instincts tensed. I could tell she was very agitated about something. What was it?

Then I saw it.

It was because Skuld had stopped and was staring at the glass window.

She could see her own reflection.

Uh-oh..

Keiichi saw it too and ran up to her. He was speaking to her very quickly and quietly. From where I was standing I couldn't quite hear what he was saying to her.

She was just standing there, staring at her own reflection, frozen, in utter shock.

Skuld was far enough away that Peorth finally was able to approach me and whisper in my ear. "This is not good, mon ami. Skuld has just discovered that she is regressing."

I was dumbstruck. I turned and faced my friend as she continued to speak quietly to me, "You should not have assumed that Keiichi had taken liberties with his underage step-daughter. You know very well that Keiichi is a perfect gentleman. And therefore you should have known better than to doubt him. He would only have married Skuld after she had become an adult first."

She sighed as she said dolefully to me, "And I believe that the higher they travel, the further she will regress in age. Unless I am mistaken, she will continue to regress until she returns back to her original appearance as the Norn of the Future."

Oh no.. no no no. I turned back to look at my wounded daughter, who was still staring at her own reflection in the glass. What was she thinking? I saw that Keiichi was now holding her hand as he continued to quickly whisper words into her ear. I could only begin to imagine what he was saying to her right now.

I lowered my head shame, then I looked at Peorth. "What have I done?"

Peorth looked back at me and spoke solemnly, "I must be candid with you. I am afraid you might have caused your daughter great harm. She now knows that Keiichi was able to keep a secret from her for many years. And he has kept that secret even though they are bonded. She feels that her trust has been violated."

"I'm sorry.."

"And just now look at her." I did. "She has now just discovered that Keiichi was also keeping a second secret, the secret of her age regression. She is devastated."

"I didn't know.."

"And thanks to you, you have now made her doubt herself as a woman."

What.. Oh no.. "Peorth, what do I say? What can I do?"

She crossed her arms and looked at me severely. "For now, you can do nothing. Only Keiichi can save their relationship now."

I felt awful. Then she gave me a harsh rebuke. "You have spoken to me before that you now have all five kinds of love within you. That is an extraordinary gift that you have, and I envy you for having it. But I must tell you that frankly I did not see any of those five loves when you challenged your daughter."

Those words convicted me. She was absolutely right. I could only stare at the ground in my shame. I was such a fool.

I closed my eyes and spoke a silent prayer. _In my pride I hurt the very people I loved the most. What I did was unthinking, foolish, and wrong. Please, please forgive me. Please help me to make amends._

The expression on Peorth's face then softened. She gave me a hug and said soothingly to me, "There, there mon ami. I can see the remorse in your eyes. What you did was not done out of malice or spite, only from your pride. And we are very prideful beings. It is our worst weakness. I know in my heart that they will forgive you. And they will forgive each other. You will see."

I sniffled, "You think so?"

"Yes, I do."

And then over her shoulder I saw Skuld slap Keiichi's face. Hard.

Peorth let go of me as Skuld marched over to us. "Okay, I figured out what's going on now."

Keiichi ran up behind her, "No! You're wrong!"

She glanced up at the cityscape of Paris that was hanging over our heads. "I was worried about this. Now I know why nobody ever escapes from level 38."

I was confused and said nothing. Instead Peorth spoke up. "Skuld, please comprehend. I am very sorry that my friend was so rude to you." She turned and looked at me like a disappointed schoolmaster as I cringed meekly. "She will apologize to you later." She then turned back to Skuld. "But for now, my dear, let us all sit down at this nice table and have some coffee together. I will help you understand your feelings about what has just happened."

Skuld simply glared at us in silence.

Peorth went on. "My dear, it is very understandable that you are upset. You have just received several shocks about your relationship with Keiichi. And so it is fortunate for you that I am here right now. I am an expert in these matters and I will help you."

Skuld made a bitter laugh. "Of course you are here to help. How convenient. The foremost doctor of love happens to be standing right here when it all happened. My, my, what a coincidence. And now you will 'help' me."

Peorth tilted her head. "I am afraid I do not understand.."

Skuld said, "Look, I'll be honest with you, with all you people, whoever you are. I know this is a setup. A trap. I can smell a trap from a mile away. I am the leading expert on creating traps, and believe me, this one is a beauty. I could not have designed a better one myself."

"A trap?"

Keiichi tried to hold her hand. "Skuld.. please.. you're wrong."

She ripped her arm away. "Don't touch me! I know you aren't real!"

I was totally confused.

She went on. "Look, I know that I am dreaming right now. I am trapped inside of a sub-model, someone's dream construct."

I finally had to speak up. "No, Skuld, that's not true. You are not.."

"I'm not stupid! This is level 38. This where the real and the unreal become blurred."

My heart was breaking for her. "Please believe me.."

She was vicious, "Just shut up." She then turned towards Peorth and pointed up. "Tell me that's not a sub-model!"

Peorth looked up as well. "Yes, I will confess that right now we are standing inside a 3-D sub-model that I had created which is based on Paris. But this is not a dream state. It is real. I had created this sub-model so that when you arrived here you would not be disoriented. Level 38 is indeed a very dangerous place. This is why it is not safe to travel outside, on sublevel 0, without an escort."

"Whose escort? Yours?"

"Oui." Peorth stood next to me as she explained our new jobs. "She and I are psychopomps, guiders of the dead. As psychopomps we have the special ability to navigate people through level 38 safely."

I spoke up. "What Peorth means is that we have absolute reckoning within this whole level. It means we always know exactly where we are inside of it, and the sub-level depth. And we always know whether we are currently in a dream state or not."

Skuld said, "Yes, I believe that."

I was encouraged. "You do?"

"Yeah. You people are the wardens keeping me prisoner here."

I flapped my arms. "We're not! This is not a dream. This is real. How can we convince you?"

She give us a malicious grin. "That's the beauty of it. You can't."

I didn't know how to respond to that.

"But _I_ can tell if you are fake or not. And _all_ of this is fake." She looked up again at the upside-down buildings. "I mean, come on now." She then glared at me with an accusing look. "All of this is preposterous. Keiichi suddenly enjoys your wild sexcapades? Hah! And I'm suddenly turning back into a kid? Hah!"

She went on. "And do you know the most unbelievable thing about all this? Him not telling me, that's what. That was your mistake, by the way. That is why I know for certain this is all bull-[bleep]. He would never keep secrets like that from me. I don't believe any of this. Or you." Then she turned to face Keiichi. "Or you either, whoever you are."

"I quit." She walked away.

Keiichi started to follow her, but Peorth held him back. "Non. Let her go. Until she believes that you are real, Keiichi, you cannot help her. Please give her time to be alone. She needs time to think, to process what has just happened. Then later we will try to talk to her again."

He turned to face us with pleading eyes. He looked so hurt. "Okay.. if you think that is best..."

He glanced in my direction. I felt so ashamed. I could only say to him, "Keiichi, I'm so sorry..."

"Look, you don't need to apologize. Not to me, anyway, because a lot of it was my fault. Skuld didn't tell me you two were here until just before we arrived. She kept it as a surprise for me. And if I had more time to think about her 'little surprise' I would have realized what might have happened when we met. And so I ought to have revealed to her the fact that her body was regressing before you spoke to us. I just didn't have the time."

I felt awful. "I know. You were just trying to avoid hurting her. This is all my fault. I am so so sorry.."

"No, I should have come clean with her myself as soon as I had figured what was really happening. But I just didn't have the heart to tell her. You see, I know Skuld, how she thinks. I know how utterly devastating it would have been to her ego when I finally told her."

He looked up. "You don't understand how not being a child anymore was so critically important to her. It was one of the reasons why she married me, I think. She wanted to prove to herself that she was a woman, not just a child living in a grown-up's body. I think that was unconscious on her part. Now, we both knew she wasn't fully grown up at first, and she even admitted as much to me. But then I could see that her battles with Eihwaz were a like a baptism of fire. It burned the child right out of her. And it nearly killed her. But she came out of it stronger than ever.

"You had to be there to understand. She had truly become a woman, both in body and in mind. She was wonderful. Oh, if only you could have seen her then. She was so tall, so proud, so beautiful, and with an iron will. And after that I started to slowly fall in love with her. She was.. she was a true goddess."

His eyes began to tear up. "The point is, Skuld was a _woman._ In every sense of the word. And now the one thing she wanted the most in her life is slowly being taken away from her."

I understood. No wonder she was is in denial about it. She had every incentive to believe that her regression was simply an illusion, a dream, because the alternative was simply too painful for her to bear.

I glanced at Peorth and she nodded. Our mission with Cobb could wait. We now had a new mission. "Keiichi, we will do everything we can to help you. And her."

"But how? Even if we can convince her she's not stuck in some dream world, she will still think I've betrayed her."

He looked down. "And I wonder if she might be right. Maybe I did."

I approached him and gently held his shoulders. "No, Keiichi, you're wrong. You would never hurt her. You could never hurt her any more than you could hurt me or Belldandy. And that's why you didn't want to tell her, because you knew how important being an adult was to her, and you didn't want to shatter that image of herself. That was why you could not muster the courage to tell her what was happening, until it was too late."

I tried to bend down to look into his downcast eyes. "Look at me, Keiichi. We both messed up. So let's try to work together to fix it, okay? And Peorth is going to help too."

He nodded. "Okay.."

"Oui."

"Good."

Then I felt something in my mind. I could tell that Peorth felt it too.

Oh no. We both knew what it was, the psychopomp warning signal.

Oh no.. no no no..

I yelled at Peorth, "Do you have a lock?"

She touched her temple. "Oui. Two blocks west. Les Halles. Run! We must hurry!" We took off running at high speed. Keiichi began to follow us but was falling behind.

Skuld was easy to find. She was laid out on a bench just inside the entrance to the park. Peorth rushed to her side and peered closely into Skuld's closed eyes. She was breathing softly. I ran up and peered down as well. I could already see that Skuld's irises were moving back and forth rapidly under her eyelids. The R.E.M. sleep had already begun.

Keiichi rushed up behind us, panting.

Peorth stood up slowly. "We are too late."

Keiichi looked panicky. "What? What is it?"

I turned to face him. "Keiichi, Skuld has fallen asleep."

"So? Wake her up."

I touched his shoulders again. "We can't."

"Why?"

"Keiichi, this is the danger of level 38. You must never, ever, fall asleep here."

"Why not?"

I sighed.

"Because, if you ever fall asleep in level 38.."

Keiichi's eyes widened.

".. you will likely never wake up again."

* * *

**A/N:**

* The Soviet 'Tsar Bomb' nuclear weapon test in 1961 was a detonation of approximately 54 megatons. It was the most powerful artificial explosion in human history.

** See chapter 1 of _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , [That Was Supposed To Be Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/950199/chapters/1857446).

*** See chapter 27 of _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , [The Heart of Sunshine](http://archiveofourown.org/works/950199/chapters/1857569).


	36. Limbo

**Chapter 36: Limbo**

_400 years later_

Skuld was sitting on the beach. Behind her was an endless skyline of tall buildings that stretched into the distance in both directions. The buildings were in various states of disrepair and decay. A few had toppled or collapsed.

She picked up a small rock and chucked it into the sea. It was always the same rock.

Keiichi walked up behind her. She sensed his presence.

She didn't turn around. Instead she said quietly, "K2, you're like a bad rash. Go away."

She called him 'K2' because she believed that Keiichi was a dream construct created by the captors that held her prisoner.

Keiichi sat beside her and gazed out at the water in silence.

Time passed.

Finally he spoke up. "Anything new?"

"Very funny."

"I'll sit with you for a while if you like." He had made this offer many times before.

This time she was not so harsh in her rejection of him.

"Sorry, no. I know that this hurts your feelings. But as a dream construct you're programmed to feel that way. You can't help it." She turned to look at him. "And so, to whatever extent your feelings are real to you, I'm sorry."

She looked down. "So, please leave me alone."

"It's okay." He stood up.

Then he said, "I'll be waiting for you. Even if you don't believe I am the real Keiichi, just remember that there is still the real Keiichi up there somewhere. And he's waiting for you too."

She threw the rock again. "He'll give up eventually."

"He'll wait for you. Just like Belldandy is waiting for him."

"No, he won't wait. He's only mortal."

"So?"

"He doesn't have my sense of time. He measures time in days, weeks, months and years. I measure time in years, decades, centuries and millennia."

"You'd be surprised."

He left.

* * *

_600 years later_

Skuld was sitting on the beach. Behind her was an endless skyline of tall buildings that stretched into the distance in both directions. All of the buildings were in various states of disrepair and decay. More than a few had toppled or collapsed altogether.

She picked up a small rock and chucked it into the sea. It was always the same rock.

Keiichi walked up behind her. She sensed his presence. He sat beside her and gazed out at the water in silence.

Time passed.

Finally he spoke. "You think you can out-wait your captors. You can't."

She turned to face him. "I can. Waiting is something I'm good at. I can wait forever if I have to."

"No. You're wrong."

"I can. It's easy for someone like me."

"You misunderstand me. I mean 'No' because there are no captors. I'm the real Keiichi. Look, it's just me, Peorth, and your mom up there waiting for you. Nobody else is up there."

More silence.

He looked down. "Skuld, I hurt you incredibly. Your mom did too. We have no excuse for what we did to you."

"K2, you're making that bogus assumption again, that he didn't want to hurt my feelings."

"It's true. I shouldn't have waited so long to tell you. I was just putting off the inevitable. I should have told you as soon as I suspected what was happening. But I knew it would hurt your feelings terribly, so I put it off. As we climbed higher it became more and more obvious. I figured you'd notice it yourself eventually."

"Non-sequitur. Nothing that happened the moment I stepped into level 38 was real. All of you were fake from that moment on. I didn't notice it prior to then for the simple fact that it wasn't happening. Only when I stepped into level 38 did I suddenly become a teenager."

More silence.

Then she said, "And I'm not regressing in age. And Keiichi was not hiding secrets from me."

"Sorry, you're just in denial. It was already happening right on level 2. I didn't get taller, you got shorter. And you were already going into denial about it. Heck, you even had me convinced myself."

She threw the rock again.

"But there was also your personality change. It changed as soon as you died. You were like a scared little child, and I sang to you like a mother. And after that you became increasingly short-tempered, excitable, and playful. At first I thought it was just the excitement of the tour. But it was actually because your personality was regressing."

He sighed, "And then here on level 38 you were brutally confronted with the awful truth. And in the worst possible way. Your mind couldn't take it. Adulthood, the one thing you wanted most in your life, was suddenly ripped away from you. And so you fled and hid. You dived down deep into your own subconscious mind to hide from the awful truth."

He looked down. "And it's all my fault. I should have told you what was happening as soon as I figured it out. I'm sorry."

She got angry with him. "That's all a lie! Don't apologize for something he never did! I'm still an adult! I know I am!"

"Skuld, I understand. I'll wait."

"Go away."

"I'll wait as long as it takes."

And then, right before he left, he turned to face her one last time.

"Just remember that he loves you."

* * *

_1000 years later_

Skuld was sitting on the beach. Behind her was an endless skyline of tall buildings that stretched into the distance in both directions. All of the buildings were in significant states of disrepair and decay. More than half of them had toppled or collapsed altogether.

She picked up a small rock and chucked it into the sea. It was always the same rock.

Keiichi walked up behind her. She sensed his presence.

He sat beside her and gazed out at the water in silence.

Time passed.

Then he turned and smiled. "Happy anniversary."

"Already?"

"Yes."

"How long has it been?"

"The time differential is fifty to one. 40 years have passed from our perspective. So at least 2000 years must have passed down here."

"My, my. I guess time flies when you're having as much fun as I am."

"Skuld, you need to wake up."

"Why? I like it down here."

"This is Limbo, unreconstructed dream space. There's nothing here. This is childish."

"Is it?"

"Yes. Can't you see? You're just pouting. It's more evidence of your age regression."

"Actually I have a very logical reason for staying here."

That got Keiichi's attention. It was the first new statement that he had heard from her in a long time.

"Huh..?"

"I've been keeping it a secret. Why I don't want to leave here. But your masters probably already know it anyway. So I decided to tell you."

He waited patiently for her to continue.

"You see, my keepers can't touch me down here. Up there they can create illusions, mess with my head, do anything. If I go up with you, I'll never escape them ever again. Even if I try to come back down here I won't know if it is real - my own dream - versus a fake one, one they can control. As soon as I leave here, I will forever be their prisoner."

"That's not true. There are no captors. It's just me, Peorth, and your mom. And we all love you. They even came up with a solution to cross the level 38 barrier. I've listened to their plan and I think it will work. We can leave level 38 and continue on our journey to Belldandy. Skuld, there is a way for us to escape. To see your Big Sis."

"You could just fool me into thinking we had escaped."

"That's silly."

"Is it? Can you prove that? You could trick me into thinking that I had rejoined with the real Keiichi, that I brought Keiichi up with me to meet Big Sis, that I had a teary reunion with her, everything."

She turned to face him. "The problem is that I'll never know if any of it was real. There will always be a nagging doubt in my mind."

She looked down. "That is why I'm staying here."

"Skuld, you're wrong. There has got to be a way for you to know, with absolute certainty, that you aren't living in somebody's dream space."

"That's the beauty of solipsism. There's no way to disprove it."

Skuld chucked the rock again. Then she asked, "Okay, K2, if everything up there is real, why did my age regress? It makes no sense."

"Your mom explained it all to me. It's because as you go higher up, each person becomes increasingly conformed to their 'ideal' form, their true essence. And, for better or worse, yours is that of a child."

She sighed as Keiichi went on.

"It's who you are. Look, Skuld, even as an adult you had always retained a lot of that playful nature. And I loved it. Your genius brain was always whirring madly in that head of yours. It's why you bored easily, because that mind of your was always spinning. It's also why you've always been a little bit crazy and unpredictable. I loved that part of you too."

He smiled, "Lindy inherited some of that playfulness too, which is why she likes role-playing and acting so much. And it's why you liked role-playing with me in all of your elaborate lucid dream adventures that we shared together."

She grinned inwardly as she recalled those fond memories. "Yeah, I loved role-playing with him, the real Keiichi." She thought a moment. "I think I liked the pirate adventure the best."

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, that one was stupid." It was because in that fantasy Keiichi had played the dashing captain of a pirate ship with his crew of buccaneers who had just raided a small seaside town. As part of his booty he had kidnapped the young beautiful (and virginal) daughter of the town's wealthiest merchant. He planned to ransom her back to her father for a considerable sum.

He kept her captive in his captain's quarters to protect her from his men. While waiting the week he had given her father to gather the funds to pay his exorbitant ransom demand, they started talking.

They talked some more.

And some more.

They were falling in love.

But her father loved his money more than her, so he attempted to exchange her for a trunk filled with rocks instead of riches. The pirate captain was now stuck with his beautiful captive, but he was inwardly glad, as was she, though the proud girl would not concede that she was falling for him. And then, after many adventures, including one where a second group of buccaneers sank his ship, and where he made a daring rescue to save the girl from their clutches, he eventually swept the girl off her feet and made her his wife.

"Skuld, that was sooo stupid.."

"Aw, it was fun."

"Stooopid."

"Fuuuuun."

She sighed, "Pity we can't do that in here. It would help me pass the time. Even if you're fake I could still have had lots of fun, heh."

She sighed again, "It's too bad we can't."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because lucid dreams within Limbo are impossible. Limbo is unreconstructed dream space. It's all running in my unconscious mind. I can't control it."

Then her eyes lit up. "Wait.."

She stood up. Then she started thinking.

Keiichi could almost see the gears whirring in her head.

His heart leapt. _Skuld, use that amazing brain of yours. Figure out something!_

She started pacing back and forth. "Wait.. just maybe.. Yes! It would work! There's a way!"

He grabbed her shoulders. "Really? There is?"

"Of course! And only you and I can do it!"

She was practically trembling with excitement.

"Heh, my captors never thought of it.."

"Thought of what?"

"A test to see if I'm still trapped inside somebody else's dream construct."

"How? Spill."

"It works because I'm bonded with you. They can't simulate my lucid dream state with you bonded in my head. Two independent minds."

Keiichi started to get a glimmer of Skuld's plan. "Hey.. I think I see it.."

"Right. Because it's mine, not theirs, or rather ours. They can't control it. Not both of us at the same time. And they can't fake my bond with you because it's intrinsic between us. Oh Keiichi, there's a way! A way! Thank you! Thank you!"

Then she hugged him.

And he noticed that she was now calling him 'Keiichi' instead of 'K2'.

But then she suddenly stopped. She stared into space a moment, then her shoulders drooped. She slowly turned away from him.

He understood. He walked up behind her and held her hunched-over shoulders. "Skuld, you are still a beautiful woman in my eyes. And you always will be. No matter how you look, no matter your external appearance, that is who you are to me."

Her eyes teared up and she turned to face him. "I believe you."

She sighed, "It is a wonderful gift that you humans have. I envy you."

"We have a gift?"

"A human husband can look into the eyes of his 85 year-old wife and still see the beautiful young maiden he married 60 years prior."

Again he understood. "Yes, we can.."

She looked down. Then she gripped his own shoulders tightly. "Keiichi, can you.. please..?"

"What? Anything."

"Just.. please.. kiss me?"

"Kiss you?"

"Yes, please?"

"Skuld, you okay?"

"Like on the day you confessed to me. Kiss me exactly like that. Just one more time. Before I get any younger."

And so he held her as he looked straight into the teenage girl's tearful brown eyes. She closed those eyes and opened her lips slightly. He gave her a long passionate kiss. And then she returned that kiss with an equally passionate one of her own.

It would be their last kiss together as husband and wife.

Finally she opened eyes again. "Thank you." She stepped back.

She made a long sigh as she forever closed off that part of her life.

Then her expression changed. She made an evil-looking smile as she rubbed her hands with gleeful excitement. "All right. Let's bust out of this joint."

Then she gave him a sly wink. "But you better be careful from now on, Keiichi.."

He looked at her quizzically. "How come?"

She gave him a mad grin that could have instantly got her certified at Bellvue.

".. because good ol' crazy psycho Skuld is a-comin' back!"

She bowed extravagantly. "And for my first act.."

Keiichi heard a loud rumble. He turned and saw that all the buildings behind them were rapidly imploding. Buildings a hundred stories tall were pancaking downwards. Centuries of dust and debris were shooting outwards in all directions with explosive force, each creating a rapidly expanding cloud of debris. Thousands of buildings were collapsing in this manner. The earth shook violently as the clouds merged into a single shockwave that was now rushing towards the hapless pair on the beach.

It enveloped them as Keiichi screamed in terror.

Eventually the clouds dissipated.

The waves gently lapped on the shore of the beach.

And the beach was empty.

* * *

Skuld and Keiichi were now standing together in the captain's quarters of a pirate ship. He sighed and did a facepalm.

It was because he was now 6 feet tall with broad muscular shoulders and wavy brown hair. He was sporting a pencil moustache. Skuld was a beautiful fetching blond wearing an expensive dress befitting the daughter of a wealthy merchant of the day. The dress was badly torn at the shoulder.

Keiichi crossed his arms in annoyance. "Skuld, this is soooo stupid.. And you're too young for this sort of thing anymore. I'm not doing it."

Her eyes were closed in deep concentration. "Be quiet. I'm checking."

"Checking what?"

"My neural network. I'm checking my personality and memory nodes."

Then she said, "Okay. It checks out. Yeah, this my own lucid dream all right. But.. oh crud.. Sigh.."

"What?"

"My alpha-level self-control metric is down 23%, and my limbic feedback metric is up 31%. The latter measures the threshold of triggering my flight-or-fight emotional response. It means I'm more jittery now. And... Crap. Crap. I really am regressing, aren't I? This isn't fair."

"I'm sorry."

"Shut up. I need to check you next."

"For what?"

"To prove to myself that you aren't fake."

"Oh, that's easy. Go ahead."

"Keiichi, actually it is not."

"Huh? Why not?"

"What I mean is, this is going to be hard for you. But there's nothing for it. To satisfy myself I am going to have to dig deep into your mind, into your core memory nodes, your deepest personality engrams. I know they can't fake those."

"That's okay. I don't have anything to hide."

"After this, no you won't. You see, I have to be convinced that you are really you, and that there isn't any form of mind-control imposed on you, that nobody has tampered with your mind. Otherwise I will always have doubts.. and.. I have to be certain."

"I understand. It was my fault for hiding secrets from you in the first place. Go ahead."

She got close to him. "Keiichi, I don't think you fully understand the seriousness of what I am proposing here. Look, I'm not going to sugar-coat it. A mind-rape is one of the most serious crimes an angel can commit against another sentient being."

"Oh darn, and here I thought it was me that was supposed to be ravishing you, not the other way around."

"Shut up. Playtime is over. This is serious. What I am proposing to do to you is punishable by death."

"Well it's a good thing you are already dead then."

"Keiichi, I said shut up! I'm not joking around!"

"Sorry. Just do it. It is not a crime if I give you my permission."

She looked at him in silence for several moments.

Then she looked down. "No, I change my mind."

"Skuld.."

"Nobody can fake that kind of sincerity. You're the real Keiichi. I believe you are you."

She turned away from him. "I was 80-90% sure already anyway."

"Skuld?"

"Don't worry. I'm convinced. You're you."

"No, I want you to do it. I want you to fully trust me again."

"I do trust you."

"Liar."

"I do. Well.. I think I do.."

"Exactly. You still have that little nagging doubt, don't you? That tiny doubt. Is Keiichi hiding any other secrets? It will always be there in the back of your mind."

She grabbed his hand. "C'mon, let's wake up. Peorth and mom are waiting for us."

"No, stop! Do it! You have to be sure!"

She was getting angry with him. "Keiichi, knock it off. I already said I believe you and I trust you."

"I can see your doubts, Skuld. You can't fool me. I know you too well. And until you dispel those doubts you will never be sure about me. About whether I'm keeping any other secrets from you. And besides, I'm the one who violated you. I violated your trust in me. This is my atonement for keeping those secrets from you."

"I.. I can't.. do something like that to you."

He grabbed her roughly, further ripping the shoulder of her period costume.

"DO IT TO ME!"

She blinked away a tear. She knew how resolute and determined he could be.

She sighed deeply. "All right. I'll be as gentle as I can. Lie down."

"Where? Here?"

"Sure, why not? You're already inside my head, so we might as well do it here. Close your eyes." He did.

"Now this will feel a little weird.."

And the world went away.

* * *

Disorientation.

Belldandy was wearing a green dress with long sleeves. She had her hands held down and crossed pleasantly in front of her. "Oh my love, I've been waiting for you for so long."

"Belldandy? Is.. is that you?"

"Yes, you've finally come to me. I always knew you would."

Then Skuld walked up behind the couple. She spoke quietly into Keiichi's ear. "This is one of your central personality engrams. It represents Big Sis."

He turned to face Skuld as Belldandy continued to smile broadly at him. "Then you know how much I love her."

"Yes, I do."

"You know that I love her. More than you."

"I know. I've always known that. I don't mind that you love her more than me. I never have."

"I never understood that.."

"It's because I love Big Sis too. It's why I volunteered for this mission. Because I love both of you so much. I gladly agreed to give you the long and happy life that Belldandy wanted you to have. And it was my joy to do so. And as a bonus I got to see firsthand what Belldandy sees in you."

She looked down. "At first it wasn't easy. When I read the Blue File that first time - that our marriage was meant to last only a few months - I was stunned and confused. I couldn't understand how I could possibly fulfill Belldandy's request."

"So that explains why you looked so shocked and dazed when you approached me after reading that file.."

"Yes. I was at a complete loss. Then I decided to cast the Bond spell. There was nothing else I could do. That spell is so risky, and I was so afraid of damaging your mind. I had to keep it secret from you. I'm sorry."

He held her. "You did the right thing. We've already discussed this long ago, remember?* If you told me, Eihwaz would have killed you too, and none of this would have happened."

She looked into his eyes. "I know. There was no other way for me to save you. I'm so sorry for not telling you." She lowered her head.

Belldandy walked up to them and smiled. "Don't you see, Skuld? Keiichi has already forgiven you."

Keiichi replied, "And given what I know now, I would have gladly done it all over again."

Belldandy smiled brightly, "Yes! You see, Skuld? Your 330 years of marriage with him, the tour, he is slowly becoming wise."

Skuld cupped his face with her hand. "Yes, he is. And patient. He waited 40 years for me."

"Yes, exactly. He waited patiently for you. Just as I am waiting for him."

"Belldandy.."

"I am so happy that you are both finally starting to understand."

Skuld spoke for both of them. "Yes, we are. Thank you, Big Sis. I'll bring him to you as fast as I can."

"I know you will. I love you. Both of you. You are getting close now. Closer than you think."

She turned to him. "Keiichi, I'm so happy.. I love you so much. And when you get here, I promise, no more secrets. I will reveal to you everything."

She looked a little unsteady somehow. Her image seemed to flicker a bit. "Oh dear, this is harder for me to sustain than I thought. Keiichi, there is so much I want to tell you.."

She started to fade. "Come to me, darling!"

She was gone.

Keiichi blinked his eyes slowly, then he turned and asked, "That was.. my mental image of her.. right? I mean, that wasn't actually her, was it..?"

Skuld smiled. "Big Sis is so amazing."

He whirled back around to look at the spot where Belldandy stood, "That was her, wasn't it?"

His second ex-wife shrugged. "Hey, you tell me. We're in your messed up head, not mine."

He took a small step toward the spot where she was standing. "That was her.."

Skuld crossed her arms. "Well, that does explain one oddity."

He looked back, "What do you mean?"

"Why you never experienced any elaborate lucid dreams about her."

"Huh?"

"Part of that was out of your respect for me, no doubt. Although honestly I would not have minded at all if you did. But even in your subconcious she rarely manifested as strongly as she did just now. Am I right?"

"Yeah.. It was rare. I mean, she's always floating there in the back of my mind, of course, but she is always, I don't know.. hovering just out of my reach. But I rarely ever had a conversation like that with her. Hey, now that I think about of it, isn't that a little weird?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because she's not dead. She's real. If she was truly dead, unreachable, I mean, you'd be dreaming up long and elaborate conversations with her all the time. But because you know she's real, your mind is unwilling to invent fake dialogs with her."

"Then what was that we just saw?"

"Not sure. Maybe it really was her. Hmm.."

"But then why hasn't she done it before?"

"I think she's been careful to stay out of your head, probably because she felt it would hurt you if she manifested and left you again."

Skuld looked thoughtful. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that was a real manifestation. That was Big Sis! Wow. We must be getting close or she wouldn't have done that. Keiichi, this is really encouraging."

"Yes it is. So, Skuld, are you finished now rummaging through my skull? It feels like you've turned my head inside out."

"Yeah, we're done, sorry."

"I'd like to get us moving again. She's waiting."

"Me too. Let's wake up and go see mom."

"Heh, I'm sure she'll be gushing with apologies to both of us."

"With Peorth discretely holding her rose whip behind her back to make sure she does, no doubt."

"Yeah, heh."

She paused. "I must say, that was a nice little vacation. I really needed it."

"Skuld, are you sure you're ready to become a kid now?"

"I am. Second childhood. Very common among senior adults. Just make sure you give me one thing, Keiichi.."

"What? Anything. Any at all."

"I want _lots_ of strawberry ice cream."

"Heh, deal. All the strawberry ice cream you can eat." He tousled her hair playfully.

"Stop that!"

"Hey, turnabout is fair play."

"Oooh! You're so mean!"

"Let's go."

* * *

_Level 38, sublevel 0_

Skuld and the rest of them were standing over the sleeping body of Mr. Cobb. The teenage girl removed the stethoscope from her ears. Peorth asked, "What do you think, mon ami?"

Skuld said, "Well, it's a good thing that you two now have an expert dream professional up here with you."

Keiichi said, "Skuld, stop bragging."

Skuld ignored him and began to pontificate, "Speaking as a professional and the foremost expert on dream psychology, and based on my physical and mental examination of the patient, plus your reports of your attempts to awaken him - which were quite pathetic by the way - I am now prepared to announce my conclusion regarding your patient's condition."

Peorth asked, "You have?"

"Yes, it is quite simple. It is obvious why your attempts would never succeed. You could never awaken him. Not in a million years. You two are idiots."

Keiichi said, "Skuld, don't rub it in. Just explain why."

"It's simple."

"Yes?"

"Those two fools could never have possibly guided Mr. Cobb home. They're psychopomps."

"Skuld.."

Skuld's mother finally spoke up. "So why can't we awaken him?"

"Because, dear mother, of one simple fact."

"Which is?"

"Cobb is not dead."

* * *

**A/N:**

* See chapter 8.

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/07/05):**

I can't believe this story got so huge. Originally this story was supposed to be a coda after the end of The _Fifth Kind of Love_ , topping out around novella length (30,000 words), but it is now over 165,000. The reason was that I had aborted the original ending, which would have taken place shortly after Chapter 13 with Thoriko reading Lindy's death note. Then Lindy's ghostly form would have appeared in front of Thoriko alongside Skuld and Keiichi, with the trio appearing semi-transparent like Anakin, Obi-wan, and Yoda did at the end of the film _The Return of the Jedi_.

But I was worried the ending would feel too melancholy for some people (I caught some flack for that with FKOL's ending). So I aborted the planned ending and instead took Keiichi on a grand tour of the multiverse/transverse. This was partly to show that K1 and Skuld were emphatically still alive (and loving it), and partly as an opportunity to do some of the deep philosophical and ontological musings that I had planned to do in _The Final Act of Haruki Suzumiya_ in a much more technical way. For an example of my writing style when I switch to all-out geek mode, see Chapter 30 of this story. That admittedly overly-wonky chapter would have fit much better in FAHS (where I could do a 4-way Socratic dialog between Kyon, Kyonko, Nagato, and Koizumi), which is why I only made it an omake in this story.

Thank you for reading.

-HuuskerDu


	37. Forever and Eternity

**Chapter 37: Forever and Eternity**

_Level 38, sublevel 0_

The former Air Marshal shook her head in disbelief. "Cobb is alive?"

Peorth said patiently to Skuld. "My dear, that does not seem possible. How can a a living human come all the way up here to this place?"

Skuld addressed the pair like a teacher explaining 2+2=4 to a very slow student. "Simple. Do you know what a set intersection is?"

"Oui." "Uh.."

"It is the set of elements that are in common between two sets. Members of both sets."

"Oui." "Oh.."

"That is what happened here. It is nothing more than a basic set intersection, where our power-set stack of reality levels has intersected with Cobb's own dream state level."

The ex-Air Marshal blinked her eyes slowly. "If you say so.."

Skuld continued to lecture the pair of psychopomps. "I do. It's obvious that this is a simple intersection. And that dream state level of his must be pretty darn deep to intersect with this high a level of reality. Small wonder he's not waking up."

"Okay, fine. So what do we do then?"

Skuld gave an exasperated sigh. "Mother, we wake him up. His dream stack will then collapse and he'll wake up back in his own original physical universe, wherever that happens to be."

"Is that even possible for us to do that to a living person? As psychopomps we only have authority over the dead."

"Sure it is. Keiichi and I have been doing lucid dreaming for centuries. Piece of cake."

Skuld tapped her finger to her chin. "We just need to convince him to wake up. Hmm. You know, I think the four of us, all together, just might be able to pull this off."

Her mom said, "Really? How?"

"Give me a moment to think how to best do this.." A few moments later she said, "Okay, I have a plan worked out." Skuld ordered them all to gather round her in a huddle.

And so Skuld began to explain her plan. "You see, Cobb's whole psychological problem is his hangup over the death of his wife, Mal. He blames himself for her suicide. So what we gotta do is get him to finally let her go of her. Or to be more precise, to let his image of her let go of him. Then he can wake up and return to his children."

She looked at Peorth. "Mal was born in France, so you will play her. Mom, you will play Ariadne. Keiichi, you play Saito. I'll direct the whole thing from off-stage. I'm the best impersonator so I will jump in as necessary with any other character roles as needed: Eames, Fischer, or Arthur."

"But Skuld, what if we have to improvise? How will we know what to say if things deviate from the script?"

"Let me worry about that. Remember, I'm the stage director of this little theatrical performance. I'll transmit your improvised lines to you with telepathy. We are all first class, and Keiichi is bonded with me, so we can stay in contact that way. Just remember to remain in mental contact with me at all times so I can overhear what is going on. Got it?"

"Roger." "Je comprends." "Understood."

"Are we ready, team?"

"Let's move out!" "Apprêté!" "Oh yeah!"

"Great, then, let's go!"

* * *

_Level 38, sublevel 0, three hours later_

Skuld was already standing up. She had her hands on her hips and was panting a bit. "Okay, mission accomplished. He's on his way home now. Wow, that was close call."

Peorth sat up from her cot, then she hugged the teenage girl. "Skuld, that was magnifique! Your improvisation, I am so impressed with you!"

Keiichi stood up as well and kissed Skuld's cheek. "You did perfect."

Skuld's face was turning red from all the praise that she was receiving. "Heh, thanks."

From behind her the former Air Marshal put her hands on the back of Skuld's shoulders. "That was a great op. Your defensive reflexes when he tried to attack you were spot on. Quick and decisive. And you didn't injure him. Fine work, soldier." She then playfully waited for her daughter to salute her as the lower ranking officer.

Instead Skuld protested, "Hey, I know I don't look like it anymore, but I was a four star Air Marshal too, you know. And I was the Daitenkaicho. So shouldn't you be saluting me first instead of me saluting you?"

Her mom smiled, "Ah, but you had awarded me a fifth star, posthumously, so now I out-rank you. And Daitenkaicho was a civilian office. So snap to it, soldier! I want to see that salute!"

Skuld growled at her mom. "Grr.. fine."

Then Skuld gave her mother an over-exaggerated salute, which her mother then briskly returned. Then she hugged her daughter. "Skuld, I'm so proud of you."

Peorth said brightly, "Let us all go to the café and celebrate!"

And so they did.

* * *

_Level 38, sublevel 1, Paris, night_

The hour was getting late. It was finally time for Keiichi and Skuld to depart from level 38.

Skuld was tearing up. "Mom, I wish you could come with us. Both of you."

"Mon ami, we have our own jobs to do. And you have yours."

"Yeah, I know. Big Sis is waiting for us. So I guess it's time for us to leave then.."

"Get moving, soldier."

Keiichi was tearing up as well. "I love you, and I'll never forget you."

"My Keiichi.. my family.." Then the ex-Air Marshal smiled. "Hurry up and go before I lose it."

He hugged her. Then she said, "Just remember my instructions when you hit the barrier. Follow them to the letter."

Keiichi said, "Don't worry, we will."

"Mom.."

"Goodbye."

* * *

Skuld and Keiichi then departed level 38. They were standing in the white void. The door before them was to level 39. But the door was marked with warning symbols that read, _No physical entry permitted_.

This was a dangerous time. They were about to cross the barrier where reality ended and the unreal began, the upper edge of any sort of physicality. Beyond that boundary physicality could not exist. If they entered that door they would become true spirits, without mass, without form, without any physical properties at all, in a strange realm that was on the barest edge of incomprehensibility. They were on the very border, the cliff-edge, of anything that they could understand as 'reality'.

There was no way for Skuld, in her physical manifestation, to pass that barrier.

Keiichi was permitted to pass on principle, being a member of that strange race that for some unfathomable reason was granted the ability to commune directly with the Top. But he did not have the power to convert himself into a spirit to cross that barrier, not on his own.

Skuld had the power but not the authorization. But even in their spiritual forms, where all physicality is removed, Skuld was still not authorized to pass. Meanwhile Keiichi had the permission to pass, but not the power.

To cross that barrier would require a single non-physical being to have both the power and the authority to do so.

It was Skuld's mother who had finally come up with the solution while Keiichi was patiently waiting the 40 years for Skuld to finally end her walk-out strike against her imaginary captors.

They would have to fuse.

"Keiichi, you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Remember, even though we will be one mind, it will be your half that will be the one navigating. I'll slam on the brakes for you when we get over the hump. Then we should be able to split apart again."

"Okay. But can you please explain how can I be the one navigating and you braking if we are a single mind?"

"Well, it's kinda complicated. Our unitary mind will have different components from each of us running different parts of the combined psyche. To oversimply it a bit, I will be running the super-ego and you will be the ego. The id will be merged."

"What? Super-ego, ego, id?"

"It is Freud's structural model of the human psyche. Yeah, I admit I'm hand-waving here. It's because Freud's model doesn't actually correspond to the somatic structures of the human brain. Anyway, the model works like this: The ego is basically in the driver's seat. It is the main part of the psyche that takes actions and makes decisions. The id consists of your primal instincts and urges. The super-ego mediates between the ego and the id. I can't really explain it properly. The point is, neither of us will have a physical body for a while, at least not until we get over the hump."

"The hump..?"

"The hump. The infinite segment of our trip. After we get over the hump then physicality might reappear again, with physical bodies that are probably similar to the heavenly bodies we have now, or perhaps they will re-manifest and we will get the same ones back again. Dunno. Anyway, the point is, we have to pass through a huge and literally infinite expanse of absolute weirdness - complete non-physicality - to get to that point. "

"Ok, so I'm in the driver's seat. Fine. So how far do I go? When do I stop?"

"Dunno. We will be going up millions of levels, billions, trillions.."

"Great."

"Let me worry about stopping us. I'll ride shotgun as your super-ego and I'll tell you when to stop. We may have to stop multiple times so I can take some readings. We don't want to get lost."

"How can we get lost? You told me that the chain of power-sets is well-ordered, right? So we just go in one direction: Up. We go up. Easy."

"You wish. We need to be careful now. There are loop shunts. I think they start appearing around level one million or so."

"Loop shunts?"

"You ever play the game Chutes and Ladders as a kid?"

"Yeah.. you roll the dice and move your piece along the path. If you hit a ladder you climb up. If you hit a chute you slide down."

"Right. Well, those ladders and chutes in the transverse can form cycles, loops. So we need to be careful to avoid those. Otherwise we could be spinning forever in a cycle that never leads us to Big Sis. We could be climbing up then sliding down again forever and not realize that we aren't making any progress."

"I get it. You don't want us cycling between a ladder and a chute for eternity."

"Ack! It's 'forever', not 'eternity'! Get it right! You know how much that annoys me when you mix those up."

"Sorry. Uh, I forgot. What is the difference between forever and eternity again?"

"Look, I told you a dozen times! Forever is in principle algorithmic. Eternity isn't."

"Oh yeah.. I forget what that means.."

"Keiichi, I already explained this. I swear, the high altitude must be making you stupid or something. Okay, let's go over it again. Forever is in principle algorithmic. It means that there exists, at least in theory, some kind of generating function or description for it. For example, you can express the set of factorials of all non-negative integers like this, written in the functional computer language Haskell:

fac 0 = 1  
fac n = n * fac (n - 1)

"The set of factorials is infinite, but there exists a well-formed algorithm that describes how to generate them. A more complex example is the set of prime numbers. For example, here is a function to generate an arbitrarily long list of prime numbers, also written in Haskell:

primesTo m = 2 : sieve [2..]  
where  
sieve (p:xs) = p : sieve [x | x - xs, rem x p /= 0]

"Now, there is no easy way to predict whether any given really big number happens to be in this set. In fact, it is the hardness of the factorization of large numbers that is the foundation for the computer encryption algorithms that you find on the World Wide Web [SSL and TLS]. When you purchase something from Amazon with your credit card, or when you transfer money from your Fidelity bank account, your computer is actually using the factorization of a large number into two large primes to encrypt your account information.

"So now let us move up to a more abstract level. Let's define the set S of all Haskell programs that return the answer '1'. Here is the question: Is there a generating function for S that can be described using Haskell itself? In other words, can you write an algorithm written in Haskell, like the ones shown above, that will generate the set of all such Haskell programs?

"The answer is no. In the lingo of computability theory, it is undecidable. According to Gödel you could say that the Haskell programming language is 'incomplete', in the sense that it cannot express all expressible truth statements (members of S) within that logical system. So it is 'imperfect' in that sense. Yeah, I know this is easily provable using the Halting Problem, but bear with me here. The point is, any such sufficiently complex system that can be described using finite symbology is by necessity either incomplete or inconsistent. That is a direct consequence of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem: That no such logical system can be both completely consistent (internally perfect) and can find and prove all its truth statements within that system (is complete). Such a system cannot possibly exist."

Keiichi said, "In other words, it is flawed."

"Yeah. Now let us move up to a really ambitious logical system. Remember when I described to you the Standard Model of particle physics, the so-called 'Theory of Everything'? The TOE?"

"Uh, yeah.."

"If you recall, the Standard Model describes the dynamical behavior of the fundamental particles of the physical universe within a quantum mechanical system whose gauge symmetry can be expressed as a function of the Lagrangian, _L_."

"In other words, it's a model. A system."

"Yes. And so in principle it can be generated algorithmically, although as a practical matter that's actually infeasible."

"Okay."

"So now, here is the big question: Is this model perfect? In the Gödelian sense?"

"It's a finite description, so no, it is not."

"Correct. So could you conclude that, in that sense, that the design of the physical universe is flawed?"

"Sure. In the sense that the quantum states are based on the operation of that finite TOE model. Okay, fine. But I still don't see what you are driving at."

"Don't you see, Keiichi? One of the big arguments against the existence of God is that His creation is flawed. God is perfect, the argument goes, but his creation is imperfect. Creation is messed up. And so atheists claim that this apparent contradiction refutes the existence of a perfect God."

"Ah, I see. But we just established that a perfect creation is impossible to create."

"Bingo! Yay! I love it when you get clever." She playfully approached him to tousle his hair, but he jumped back before she could do it.

"Hey, don't muss up my hair! You know I hate that."

"Feh, like your hair can get any more mussed up than it already is. You never comb it."

"Just don't touch it. Anyway, I think I get what you are saying."

"The point is, God's creation is flawed by necessity. It is not His fault, it just is. By logical necessity. It is intrinsically flawed due to its nature of being described by finite rules."

"Got it."

"Now let's get really ambitious. God is perfect. So tell me, Keiichi, how would you describe God then?"

"You can't."

"And why not?"

"Uhm.."

"Before you answer, think carefully about the little thought experiment that we just did."

Keiichi thought hard. "Hmm.. the nature of God cannot be described by any finite logical system."

"Hooray! You got it! You win a kewpie doll! This is what we mean when we say God is eternal."

"In other words, God is literally indescribable."

"Correct. When we call something 'eternal', what we mean is that it cannot be described in finite symbols. Now you are ready to understand the distinction between 'forever' and 'eternal'. An entity that is eternal is something that cannot be conceived using finite terms. This is why Gödel cannot capture God within his nasty logic trap. Because to capture Him that way Gödel needs to first come up with a symbol that fully describes Him, and there isn't one.

"Is that why Jews are so reluctant speak God's name aloud?"

"I like to think so. You see, in a certain sense one can argue that God has no name. For he literally cannot be named by any symbol. More specifically, His conception cannot be labeled or captured in any finite set of symbols that fully describes Him."

Keiichi said, "I am rather amazed that I actually understood that."

"Heh, good boy. I admit these are rather deep concepts, but I think they are important."

"Is that what we are approaching as we climb up?"

"Yeah, I think so. I have a sneaking suspicion that the place where Big Sis dwells is actually eternal."

"Wow.."

"At some point we will cross the line between forever and eternal. That is the 'hump' I was referring to above. The forever hump. You will need to fly us past that point before I can take over flying again."

"Okay. I think I got it now. And you'll stop us periodically to check our progress, and to avoid those shunt loops you were talking about."

"Yep."

Keiichi took a big breath. "Okay. So how do we do this fusion thing? I mean, how do we merge minds?"

"It's easy. We are already mentally bonded, which means we can flip our mental processes back-and-forth between our two different systems - between your brain or my brain. In this case I think it would be best if I flipped myself into yours. You'll have bodily control. Then just walk through the door. Make sure you drag my body with you. Our bodies will both probably dissolve right after we go through."

"Err.. okay.."

"Keiichi, I need to be honest with you. I have absolutely no idea what is actually beyond that door. When physicality ends, I mean. So I gotta warn you..."

"About what?"

".. that things past that door might get kind of, well, weird. I mean really weird. I mean _2001: A Space Odyssey_ trippy weird."

Keiichi took a deep breath. "Got it. I'll try to be ready."

"Just keep moving upward as much as you can. If it seems that you are getting stuck in a loop, I'll hit the brakes and we'll get our bearings again before continuing. Got it?"

"Yeah. I'm ready. Let's do it. Belldandy is waiting."

Skuld then moved herself into Keiichi's mind.

He lifted up her limp and mindless body in his arms and walked through the door.

* * *

_Level Nayuta_

{ Stop! }

{ Where are we? }

{ Level Nayuta. }

{ Where? }

{ A hindu term that is supposed to represent infinity: 10^60. Not actually infinite, of course. }

{ Still, that's pretty high up, wow. }

{ Yeah. You know it's an interesting coincidence that Nayuta approximates the mass of the physical universe measured in milligrams. It's a remarkably large number for an ancient religion to contemplate. }

{ Still nothing physical yet. }

{ Nope. We are not over the hump yet. Keep going. }

{ That one section back there was really trippy.. }

{ Yeah, around 10^30. I have no idea what that was. Don't worry about it. }

{ You know, I'm kind of surprised that we are fused and yet we can still chat back-and-forth like this. }

{ You're just talking to yourself. }

{ Huh? }

{ Just keep going. }

{ Here we, err, I go. }

* * *

_Level Aleph-sub n Bet Yodh_

"Whoa! Stop!"

Keiichi and Skuld fell down from the sky with considerable forward momentum. Their two bodies skidded fast along a glassy white floor until they finally slowed to a halt.

Keiichi stood up slowly. "Ouch.."

Skuld sat up and looked at herself. "Yay! We have bodies again! At least I think we do.."

"You think?"

"We're way beyond understanding what's actually happening to us at this point."

Then she looked down her front as she muttered to herself, "Dang it, I'm as flat as a washboard..."

"Sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault."

Then he noticed her new outfit. "Hey, that red and pink longcoat you're wearing, with those big red buttons. It looks just like the one that you wore back on Earth when I first met you."

"Yep, my regression is complete. All I need now to finish my ensemble is my red mallet, sigh."

"So where are we now?"

"Not sure. All I know for certain is that we successfully got past the 'forever' hump.

"I've been flying forever?"

"Yeah. Good job, Keiichi. This is a major breakthrough."

"But it doesn't feel like I've been flying forever."

"I already explained that. After you die there are time-skips in what you experience, like in a dream. The reason is because we are not infinite beings. Our minds have only finite capacity to remember new events, so we have only finite memories during a time span that lasted forever."

"And I notice that you just said 'forever', not 'eternity'."

"You caught that. Good man."

Then Skuld put her hand to her forehead. She seemed a bit unsteady.

"Hey Skuld, you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure you're feeling okay? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine, just a bit tired. Let's just sit down and rest for a bit. I think we deserve a break, don't you?"

They both down sat on the glassy white floor. Then Skuld laid herself flat and tucked her arms under her head.

She pretended to be relaxed, but she wasn't. She was feeling ill, nauseous.

She tried to distract him. "It was nice seeing Mom and Peorth on 38."

In his sitting position Keiichi leaned back with his arms braced behind him. "Yeah, it was. They seemed to be doing really well."

"They both looked really happy with their new jobs. I'm glad. That's very important, to have jobs."

"How so?"

"Because, Keiichi, everyone in Heaven must have a job. Everybody. It's required. There is no such thing as unemployment in Heaven."

"Really? I thought Heaven was, you know, where you lay around lazily upon a fluffy white cloud and do nothing but relax all day. Maybe strum a harp. You know, like they show on TV cartoons."

Skuld sat up. She held her stomach a moment, then she gave him an annoyed look. "Oh come on, Keiichi. Not again. That is just another stupid misconception that you humans so often have. It's totally wrong. Heaven is nothing like that. Keiichi, your misunderstanding of Heaven is just as screwed-up as your misunderstanding of Hell. Maybe worse."

"So explain it to me then."

She laid back down again. "Feh. Go read Revelation 5. Everybody is doing something. Everybody is active. It's a busy place. Look, in Heaven you get put to work. Sure, I admit that some of it might seem a bit cliché, like singing hymns in the heavenly choir, but it will still be really interesting. Some people will go to work in other mansions, maybe get assigned roles in physical worlds, perhaps as spirits, perhaps as something else. And those jobs will be really fun and enjoyable."

"Like what, for example?"

"Well, for example your wife and Peorth are now psychopomps. That's a cool job. There are lots of other cool jobs too."

"Such as?"

"You mean besides the obvious ones like worship and praise, stuff like that?"

"Yeah."

"Well, nobody really knows exactly. Oh, there are some tantalizing hints. Take Revelation 2 for example. It describes the saints helping Christ to rule 'with a rod of iron'. The greek word is _poimanei_ , which is derived from the word for a shepherd, _poimen_. Paul uses the same word in Acts 20:28 to describe overseers. So apparently some people in Heaven will be given positions of considerable authority and power."

"Wow."

"Whatever job you get assigned, I'm sure you will be happy doing it."

"So what is Belldandy's job? Up there, I mean?"

Skuld's eyes sparkled. "It's wonderful. She's a seraph, a very special kind of angel. There are only seven seraphim. Four are always in rotation around the Center. Anzus is one too."

"The seraphim?"

"The word literally means 'the burning ones'. They are described in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 5. They have six wings that always cover them so you can never see them clearly. And they are super hot. Not a destructive fire, but different kind, a purifying inextinguishable light, a life-giving light, with a kind of clarity, a brightness that illuminates everything."

"Have you seen Belldandy in her seraph form? Or Anzus?"

"Oh goodness no. I could never approach the seraphim. Nobody from Asgard can. They are too powerful. I'd burn up."

"Wait, so how can I approach Belldandy if she's a seraph?"

She shrugged, "Dunno. I'm sure she will have worked something out for you."

Keiichi remained thoughtful. "Yeah, she will. We'll be together in eternity. I wonder.. will I see you or anyone else after that happens? Will I ever see you again? Or Peorth and your Mom?"

"I think so, somehow."

"You do?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Yeah. I agree. Belldandy will find a way."

Then he asked, "Skuld, how are you feeling? You don't look good at all. Is the age regression affecting you?"

"Naw, I'm fine. I can handle it. I'm just feeling a little weird, that's all."

"Weird? How so?"

"Well, I still have all my adult memories, but they feel strange now. I remember our marriage, how we fought the Last Battle, how we defeated Fenrir. But those memories all feel.. foreign. Like they are somebody else's memories, not my own. Am I making sense?"

"Yeah, you are. I think it is because those memories were created by your adult personality. But that adult personality is different from your child personality, and so that is why those adult memories don't feel like they are part of you. Because the adult 'you' then is different than the child 'you' now."

"It's weird. I remember giving birth to Thoriko and Lindy, but it feels like it was all a dream, that it didn't happen to me, but to someone else, and I just went along for the ride."

"Heh, actually that is exactly how I felt when you were giving birth. Ugh. I was already bonded in your head, so I felt you giving birth as a spectator. That was rough. I still can't believe how women can stand that much pain."

She chuckled, "Good. It's about time you men finally understood what childbirth feels like."

"Oy, I think that scarred me for life. I'm glad you only did it once."

"Heh."

Skuld finally sat up and said, "Okay, I think I'm ready. Let's go do the final push to the top. We need to hurry now."

Keiichi asked, "Why?" Then Skuld felt unsteady. She stumbled and fell on one knee.

"Skuld!" He ran over to help her stand. "What's wrong? Are you ill?"

"Just a little altitude sickness."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. We need to hurry now if I am going to get you delivered to Big Sis."

"But.. you just said we had literally forever to do it. Why the rush all of a sudden?"

"I said nevermind that. Let's get moving. Stay close to me. This last part might be a little bumpy. Hold on."

"But.."

Skuld grabbed his hand and launched herself upward. Up and up and up and up they flew. Up through the ladder of transfinity, faster and faster.

Skuld grimaced.

She repositioned Keiichi in front of her, pushing him, shoving him upward, pushing him with every fiber of her being.

Then she began to scream.

She was shoving him up as hard as she could, hoping that by sheer momentum that she could somehow catapult him up to where he needed to be.

For you see, Skuld had a very good reason for doing it.

It was because she had realized something, a fact that she had kept hidden from Keiichi ever since their arrival at level Aleph-sub n Bet Yodh.

It was because she now realized that she was not going to survive the trip.

* * *

**A/N:**

Christopher Nolan's film _Inception_ (2010) explores the notion that there can be nested levels of reality. In the film you will find that there are actually seven levels (not four) depicted. Working from bottom to top, the seven levels are Limbo, the castle in the snow (white), the office building (brown), the rainstorm (blue), seeing his children (the spinning top), Cobb's real world (which I suspect we never actually saw), and the audience watching the film.

What? The audience counts as a reality level? Oh yeah. Nolan intended that the audience watching the film to most definitely count as a level, and it is very much is a part of the film's mechanics. How do we know this? Because at the very end of the title credits, just before the lights in the theater turn back on, we the audience begin to hear softly the music of Edith Piaf's song _Non je ne regrette rien_ playing in the background. From watching the story we know that this specific song is a clue, the 'kicker' music, that warns us that it is time to wake up, to pop up a level of reality. Nolan is quite deliberately playing that song at the very end of the film to tell us, the audience, that it is time for us to leave the fantasy realm of that film and pick up our popcorn bags go home.

One of my favorite pieces of music by composer Hans Zimmer in that film is called _Time_ , and it is played at the end of the film when Cobb meets his children (or thinks he does). There is a wonderful live orchestral performance on YouTube at [Inception "Time" Played Live](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQvM4EM0lO8) by Vie Gasmos (5:56).

The melody starts with a single piano, then a single violin is added, then two more join in. It slowly builds with french horns and drums to a soaring crescendo, then it ends with the solitary piano again on a single note (played by Hans Zimmer himself).

Nolan had the film at the top of his 'to-do' list for years trying to find a movie studio to let him make it, but no studio would touch it, thinking it was too cerebral for a mass audience to follow. So Nolan had to first make _The Dark Knight_ films to gain enough notoriety and reputation as a successful film director to finally convince a studio to green-light this expensive and intricate production as a vanity work. It turned out the studio was wrong and the film did quite well financially. Definitely a great and thoughtful film that merits repeated viewings.

* * *

**A/N:**

I am now doing my usual practice of going back to earlier chapters to fix plot holes and to better align the story with the ending. Most of the changes are minor. The exception is chapter 33, where I re-wrote and greatly expanded the bottom half. It is one of the most important chapters in terms of this story's main thesis, behind only chapter 32 ( **Third Impact** ) and the final chapter ( **The Five Secrets Revealed** ).

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/07/07):**

Hans Zimmer's main theme for Christopher Nolan's latest upcoming SF film, _Interstellar_ , has appeared on YouTube at [Interstellar - Main Theme [Extended] - Hans Zimmer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqnnRIwoxB8) (4:08) by Agent Sambora. Zimmer created a slow melancholy and understated melody that portends a cerebral film not unlike _Inception_.

_Interstellar_ has received a lot of positive buzz in both Hollywood and the SF community. I heard a rumor that Matthew McConaughey's character might be going on a long cosmological journey not unlike David Bowman's in 2001, but with Nolan's more spiritual style. He might even go all the way to Hell and/or Heaven like in Disney's underappreciated SF film, [The Black Hole](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078869/) (1979).

That rumor got me really pumped, and so I based a lot of Keiichi's journey on what I imagined Nolan might be doing with this film.

However the first trailer disappointed me because it makes the film sound like a lame environmental screed. 'We wrecked the environment and run out of food, so we'll go find more in spaaaaace!' Oh dear. It can't be that bad, can it? In fact it's so bad I'm wondering if it is a fake-out to misdirect us from the actual story. We will see.

* * *

**A/N Update (2014/11/11):**

I saw _Interstellar_ today and it is awesome. It is the best SF movie I've seen in years. Highly recommended.

I got inspired and wrote a quick one-shot, _The Dying of the Light_ , right after seeing the film. It touches on some of the same themes presented in this tale, but in a more geeky SF way.

-HuuskerDu


	38. The Final Door

**Chapter 38: The Final Door**

_Amazing that we got this far_

_I'm going to give all my secrets away_

* * *

_Near the Top_

Keiichi was leaning over the prostrate form of a small girl.

He had gently laid the girl out on the glassy translucent floor. Her eyes were closed. She started to convulse. Did she have the chills? He had no blankets to give her, so he pulled off his own T-shirt and laid it over her.

He knew what was happening.

It was because they were too high up. They were in a region where no Asgardian angel could survive for any length of time. In mountain-climbing they called it the 'death zone', the altitude above 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) where no human can survive for more than a short time without bottled oxygen.

On Earth there were 14 such peaks that rose into the death zone, including Mount Everest. Most of the 100+ climbers who had died on that highest of all mountains had died in that zone. And for those climbers who braved those mountain peaks, it was a race to see if they could reach the top (and come back down again) before they succumbed to the inevitable.

Skuld slowly opened her eyes. She saw Keiichi hovering over her and she smiled at him.

She said weakly, "I made it. Knew I would."

Keiichi kneeled closely next to her. He was distraught. "Skuld.. you look really bad. You can't go any higher. Stay here. I can go the rest of the way myself to find Belldandy."

She coughed, then she made a small smile. "Idiot."

"Skuld?"

"We're already here."

"But.. I don't see Belldandy anywhere.."

She managed to sit up. "Of course not. She'd immolate all of us instantly if she got anywhere near us, dummy."

"But.."

"She's a seraph, remember?" She coughed again. "See that door behind you?" She pointed. Then he turned and saw a great white door that he did not remember being there before. It was a door... into a place. Instinctively he knew. It was the door that led to Belldandy.

"But Skuld, don't you want to see her too? Your Big Sis?"

Her voice was slurred. "Can't.. Get burned up.. Whoooosh."

"But what about me?"

There was a pause, then she seemed to gain some lucidity before she replied, "Oh, you'll be fine. Don't know how exactly, but I'm certain she would have made arrangements to keep you safe in there. Keiichi, just leave me and go. Go right through that door."

"No, I can never leave you, remember?"

"Just go.."

"Uh-uh. I can't leave you, not like this. Remember the prophecy? That we will never leave each other? We'll be together forever? So I guess I gotta stay here with you."

"Double idiot. We already did that. It took us forever to get here. Prophecy fulfilled. We've arrived."

"But.."

"And there's another reason. Don't you see?" She coughed harder. Her breath was shallow and ragged.

"No, I don't.."

"I'm not the one leaving you, you dolt. The prophecy was that 'I would never leave you'. Don't you get it? All this time and you still haven't figured it out yet?"

"But.."

"Keiichi, I am not leaving you..

She coughed again.

".. you are leaving _me_."

He gently lifted her head and wiped a trickle of blood from the side of her mouth.

She leaned up on one elbow. "Keiichi, it is finally time for us to part ways. Go to Big Sis. She is waiting for you right behind that blast door."

"No, I can't simply leave you out here like this. You can't even walk. You won't survive. I can't leave you, not like this."

"Please. Go. If you love me, go."

"No.."

And then, with her remaining strength, she took a deep breath and grabbed his arm weakly, "Keiichi, I gave everything I had for you. I loved you, married you, gave you children, gave you a wonderful life, protected you, gave up my life, showed you the transverse, escorted you forever, brought you all the way up here. I did that all for you, to make you grow as a person, to show you the way, to prepare you, to make you wise, and then to bring up here. Please, don't make all my effort be in vain."

"No. I'm staying here."

"Please.. If you love me, please.."

Skuld then started to cough uncontrollably. She put her hand over her mouth until her coughing fit stopped. When she removed her hand Keiichi saw that it was covered in blood.

She wiped her hand on her pink longcoat, smearing it with red streaks. "Go. She's waiting. She is right there behind that door."

"Skuld, no. I need to get you down out of here."

"It's too late. I'm done."

"You'll die if you stay here."

"Been there, done that. Idiot."

"Skuld.."

As she lay on the floor she looked around. "Hey, you know what? I did it. One for the history books. The only angel below level 38 to cross that line. And not only cross it, but go all the way up to the Top. Hooray! I'm the first one, I'm famous! Yippie!"

"Please.. tell me how to save you. Tell me!"

She ignored him as she felt her mental synapses starting to break up.

It was a familiar sensation, the same one she felt when she tele-fragged herself into the ocean seabed. But unlike that death, she was not afraid of it happening this time. She could feel her neural connections starting to fall apart. Her mind was going, and she could feel it happening.

She was becoming delirious. "Heh, heh. I went all the way."

Then she felt giddy. "I went all the way with Keiichi. Get it? Heh, heh. I went all the way with a boy! Whooie! Home run!"

"Please stop it. That's childish."

She turned. "But that's me. I'm just a child. A spoiled selfish brat. That's who I am. That's all that I am. All I ever was."

"Just stop it. You know very well that's not true. You're just feeling loopy." He looked at her with grave concern as he saw the blood trickling out of her mouth.

Then Keiichi noticed that the three empty holes in her blue facial symbols had re-appeared.

She stuck out her blood-covered tongue at him. "Nyah-nyah. Pffft!"

Another cough. "Keiichi, you're such a doofus... If I had a Skuld-bomb I'd throw it at you."

He ignored her ravings. "Please, Skuld, stay with me a little longer. Just tell me what to do so I can save you.."

She said, "Too late. Can't. I'm done."

"But.."

"Don't care. I'm done. Done, done, done!" She gave a mock salute to him. "Mission accomplished, sir!" Her strength gave out. Keiichi lowered her head gently back down.

He smiled and touched her face, then he said, "Yes, you did well. Congratulations on finishing your mission, lieutenant."

Then she managed to sit up again and flash her eyes at him in anger. "Lieutenant? Lieutenant!? Get my rank right, soldier! I was your Commander in Chief! Salute me!"

He did. "Sorry.."

But she didn't see his salute because her eyes were now clouded over, unseeing. Her face softened.

She looked up at nothing. "Big Sis? Big Sis? Is that you?"

She grabbed his arm again as she continued to babble. "Big Sis? Tell me, the mission. Did I do it like you wanted? Was I a good girl?"

He fought back his tears as he held her hand. He said, "You did it perfectly, my dear sister. You were a very good girl. I am so proud of you."

She lay back down again. "Thank you, Sis.. I tried as hard as I could. I prepared him just like you wanted. Took him everywhere, showed him everything. And you know what? I fell in love with him. I really did. Just like you said I would. I really did."

He replied, "Yes, my dear sister, you did well. You prepared him. And you loved him. He is ready now. You did your job wonderfully."

"Then I'm happy. Thank you, Big Sis."

Then she closed her eyes for the last time.

Her breathing slowed.

Then it stopped.

* * *

_Near the Top_

Keiichi sat alone with her for a long time.

More time passed.

He did not leave her side.

More time passed of unknown duration.

Then someone approached him from behind.

Standing behind him, that person spoke softly. "She was very brave."

He did not turn around. All he could say was, "Yes, she was."

He remained seated on the glassy floor next to the small girl. He could not take his eyes off the angel that he had loved and cherished for over 330 years.

The woman approached him and touched his shoulder. Then she lowered herself beside him so that they were both kneeling in front of the body of the girl.

The woman finally said, "So this was how she originally looked. I never knew. It is hard for me to believe that someone who was so strong, so powerful, and so brave, could be so small."

Keiichi finally turned to look at the new visitor.

Lindy was wearing a shapeless white gown with long folds. She seemed to be glowing slightly.

Keiichi turned back to look at Skuld's body. "Lindy, you are too late. She is already gone."

The girl smiled. "No, she is not gone."

"She's not?"

She smiled. "Of course not, you silly man."

"But.."

"You should know that by now, except for the Second Death, you cannot die twice."

"But she's.."

"True, she is fading. She is too high up. If she remains in this place much longer then her body will indeed dissolve into nothingness. Obliteration."

Lindy kneeled before the prostrate form of her mother. She kissed her cheek. Then she touched the small girl's forehead with her palm as she closed her eyes in concentration. Her outstretched palm began to glow.

Keiichi then saw that Skuld was softly breathing again.

Lindy re-opened her eyes as she lifted her palm from Skuld's forehead. "I transferred my own energy into her. It will sustain her for a time. She is only asleep now. She is safe and will remain so until I take her down." Then she leaned over and gently embraced Keiichi. "Father, it is so good to see you again."

He said in amazement, "Lindy.. how.. how did get up here so high? Did you die?"

She looked down. "Whether I have died or not is still to be determined."

"I don't understand."

"It's complicated. The point is, I volunteered to come up here to save mother. But I cannot stay here for long, for even I cannot survive indefinitely in this exalted place."

"Why not?"

"Because even I am not sinless."

Keiichi grew agitated. "Lindy, you have to take her down. Get her out of here!"

Lindy touched his face. "Don't worry, dear father. I will. That is why I'm here. I am used to living at high altitudes, at least for a time, and mother is now safe. You should know better than to worry. Belldandy would never allow her dear younger sister to come to harm."

"Oh... Of course. I see. Belldandy sent you. Thank you. Please take your mother away from here. Take her away to a safe place."

"Don't worry, I will."

Then Lindy stood up and pointed. "The door is that way."

Keiichi looked down. "Skuld is dreaming?"

"Yes."

"Then.. then can I please.. please at least say goodbye to her one last time?"

"Oh.. yes.. I suppose I can arrange that. Here, please lie down and close your eyes." He did.

Lindy then kneeled down between her mother and her father. She placed her left palm on Skuld's forehead and her right on father's. Both of her palms glowed.

And Keiichi's reality shifted.

* * *

The man wearing the tuxedo bowed before his tall and beautiful partner. Then he asked her, "May I have one last dance with you, my love?"

The regal woman with the long flowing raven hair did a polite and demure curtsy as she held out her gloved hand. She was wearing an elegant white strapless ballroom gown with elbow-length white gloves. As she dipped down before her husband, he took a moment to appreciate the tall woman's great beauty as he accepted her offered gloved hand in his own.

"Yes, let us dance one last time."

As the waltz began he guided her onto the dance floor. He was rather dashing in his own jet black tuxedo with white starched shirt and black velvet bow tie. He gently moved his hand to her bare back to twirl her in a graceful pirouette.

They continued to spin on the dance floor like the expert dancing duo that they were. The other participants respectfully stepped back to allow the First Couple to partake in in the first dance of the evening. After all, the happy couple were celebrating a rather special and joyous occasion: their 100th wedding anniversary.

She smiled at him, "Do you remember this? Our anniversary celebration? It was our last dance before our exile."

He twirled her with his left hand, then spoke quietly into her ear, "Yes, I remember."

She whispered back, "You want to know a secret?"

"What secret?"

"Big Sis asked me to teach you to become a good dancer before I brought you up."

That surprised Keiichi a bit. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder why?"

"Dunno."

"Huh. I do remember back at Nekomi Tech, when Marller put me under a love spell so that Sayoko Mishima could drag me out on a date with her. It was all part of Marller's plan to break us up. I remember that Belldandy was so distraught. She followed us everywhere. Then Sayoko took me to this trendy discotheque and we danced. Belldandy tried to dance with us as well." He chuckled, "Boy, was she awful. Still, it was sweet that she tried. Do you think she's gotten better at it?"

"You'll have to ask her. Maybe she took lessons or something."

He spun her around again. Then Skuld said to him, "Keiichi, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. And I already have a new mission."

The waltz music was nearing its end. He bowed graciously to his dance partner. "Which is?"

The tall raven-haired woman then moved very close to him. It was their final embrace.

She whispered into his ear, "To find Urd, you idiot."

He laughed as she let go of him.

The tall goddess rotated one final turn by herself as the music died. She finally said, "Keiichi, thank you. Thank you for everything."

"Skuld, I will find a way for Belldandy and me to come visit you somehow. I promise."

She blinked her eyes in surprise, "You.. you will? You can do that?"

"Of course. She's Belldandy, remember? We will find you. Together. No matter where you are, no matter what it takes, we will find you. We will search the whole transverse if necessary. I promise you that. You will see your Big Sis again, and me."

"Then I'm glad."

He smiled. And as he smiled, he saw that her form seemed to dissolve in front of his eyes. And she did so, he heard her final words. "I'm going to hold you to that promise. I'll go find Urd, and you bring Big Sis!"

She was gone. He yelled into the empty air, "I will!"

* * *

Keiichi was standing alone with Lindy on an infinite glassy expanse that had but a single large door.

As he stood he looked up into the empty whiteness and declared loudly, "Skuld, I promise! We will visit you lots of times. We'll eat lots of strawberry ice cream together, and we'll play all sorts of games: we'll play hide-and-seek, we'll have big rubber band battles, and we'll play pin the tail on the wyrm.

"We'll have lots of fun together. All of us. And Belldandy will play with all of us too. I'll teach her how to play with you. She'll learn. Then we'll play together like a family. Mom too. We will run and jump, and we will laugh, and we will have endless fun together. I promise!"

He was still looking up. Lindy smiled at him as he lowered his head. Then she approached him and spoke quietly. "Father, I will need to leave soon."

He turned to face her. "Lindy, there is one thing I still don't understand. How did you reach this place if you aren't dead?"

She smiled at him. "It's simple. My life force straddles both realms, just like Belldandy's did before she died. I actually live in a celestial château that is only a few levels down from here, one that looks rather similar to the château where my physical body is currently sleeping, which is all the way down in Asgard. And when my physical body awakens in Asgard, my spiritual body falls asleep here.

"Really?"

"Yes. It is rather hard to explain. It feels to me kind of like a lucid dream when I'm up here."

"A dream."

"Oh yes. Dreams are very, very important. Critically so."

"They are?"

"Of course they are. Humans spend one third of their entire lives sleeping and dreaming. It leaves them totally vulnerable to attack or ambush by predators or other humans."

"I guess there must be a good reason why we sleep and dream so much."

"Very. Otherwise adaptive microevolution would have self-selected dreaming away a long time ago."

"So it's necessary."

"Emphatically yes. Sleep deprivation can even kill a person."

"So what is it then? Dreams?"

"Well, the human researchers never figured it out, the mystery of sleep and of dreams. Why they are so important."

"But you know the secret."

"I do."

"Tell me."

"Well, partly it is to integrate and process memories, to work out unconscious drives and motivations. But there is another reason."

"Which is?"

"Think about it. Think about what happens when you dream. Things happen as you float from one scene to the next. You meet and talk with other people. Including those who have died. You experience joyous reunions. And you completely lose your sense of time. And while you are there it all feels absolutely real."

"So dreaming is a preview of.."

Lindy smiled and said, "It is a preview of what is right behind that door."

He turned, "What will happen when I...?"

"You will find out when you go inside."

He turned to face the shield blast door.

Lindy turned to pick up Skuld, but then she hesitated. She looked down as if she was debating something silently. Then she came to a decision and turned around. "Keiichi.. please wait a moment."

He turned back also. "Yes?"

"About your reunion with Aunt Belldandy..."

He gave her the most wonderful smile. "Yes.. We will be together for eternity. I'm so happy."

But from the expression on Lindy's face he could tell that something was wrong.

"Lindy, what is it?"

She looked down again. Her heart was ready to break. "Father.. I am not supposed to be telling you this.."

"Telling me what?"

".. but I will. There is something that I think you need to know. Before you go inside."

"Know what?"

"Well, uhm.. oh, this is so hard.."

"Go on."

"Well, you see, something has happened. And it happened beyond that door, in the True Heaven."

"What happened? Tell me"

"I'm not supposed to say.."

He approached her and held her shoulders. "Please.. Lindy.."

"Well, uhm, you see.. Belldandy did something.. She did something rash. Something wrong."

He looked down. "I know. For falling in love with a mortal. It's my fault too."

Lindy then shook her head vigorously, "Oh, no! No, that's not it at all."

"It's not?"

"Oh, no. Don't you see? The love between you is really quite wonderful. If anything you are a model for others to follow. It was nearly perfect."

"Then I don't understand.. what did she do..?"

"It was something else. Something that happened after you died."

"What? What happened?"

"Keiichi, you should already know."

He thought for a moment. "So many things have happened.. my memory is so hazy now.. what exactly did she do?"

"I'm not supposed to say. Belldandy wants to explain her actions to you herself."

"Explain?"

"Not to justify them, mind you, only to explain."

"Explain what?"

Then Lindy turned away from him. She was in obvious distress.

Keiichi said, "From the look on your face, it must be bad."

"Uh.. well.. yes. It was wrong. father.. please.. It breaks my heart for having to tell you this.. Belldandy didn't want me to say anything to you, but I feel that I must, for your sake. Oh dear, I hope she will forgive me.."

"Tell me what?"

She took a deep breath and turned back to him. "Father, your.. reunion.. with Belldandy.."

"Yes?"

".. might be cut short. It is because she committed a sin. I'm so sorry."

He stared at her in stunned disbelief.

"Oh Keiichi, I'm so sorry to tell you that! But I have to. Because once you go through that door you can never return. Not on your own. That is why I feel so compelled to tell you now, before you enter. Before it's too late."

The impact of his daughter's words began to sink in.

Not for eternity.

Not even forever.

"You mean.."

"I'm so sorry. You needed to know."

Separation.

Forever.

For eternity.

"Was she.., will she.." he could not speak the words.

She said the words for him.

".. be cast out of Heaven?"

He said nothing.

They both knew why. It was because no sin could exist in the True Heaven, for nothing sinful could abide in that place. His very nature forbade it.

Keiichi couldn't speak. Instead he pleaded with his daughter with tragic eyes. She could not bear to look at his own any longer. She turned away, fighting back her tears. "I don't know her current situation. My communication link with her is no longer working. All I know is that she has been removed from the rotation. It is possible that she might be locked away in a detention area awaiting judgment, or perhaps the judgment has already taken place and she has been sealed, or she will be shortly. I think what is happening is that you are being allowed to see her to say a final goodbye. I'm so sorry.."

"No.. after all this.."

She held his hand and tried to encourage him, to give him some hope, as best she could. "But, Keiichi, please don't give up. Please. I know for a fact that she is still inside. She's right there at this moment. Right now. You will definitely be able to see her."

"But.. will we remain together? After if I go inside..?"

"Keiichi, I honestly don't know. You cannot leave once you enter, but she cannot stay."

"Can't she be forgiven?"

Lindy sadly shook her head. "For a seraph to commit a sin is a very grave matter. Our kind does not receive forgiveness easily, not like your kind. She will be cast out of the True Heaven as punishment, and I am not sure that you will be permitted to follow her out."

"So what should I do? Should I just wait here, and then follow her down after she comes out? Or do I go inside and then be eternally separated from her?"

"You will have to decide."

"Lindy.. please.. don't force me to make that kind of choice!"

Then he thought for a moment. "Wait, is this some kind of test for me? To choose between Belldandy or Him?"

She blinked her eyes. "Oh dear, I hadn't thought of that."

"Could it be? A test for me? That if I choose Him over her, then I will be rewarded by our being together forever? Could this be like what happened when Abraham was tested? When He told him to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, just before the angel stopped him? Is that it?"

"Hmm. Let me think." She thought for several moments, then she looked up again. "My heart tells me that is not the case. I cannot explain why, but it simply does not feel right to me. But I confess that I don't understand what is happening inside. Father, I am in as much distress as you. And I don't understand how Belldandy can remain inside if she has sinned. This whole situation seems strange to me."

Then she stopped talking. She stared into space. "Wait.."

She tilted her head and began to think, "Hmm.." Could it be possible?

Just possibly perhaps.. Oh, of course. Of course!

"Lindy, what is it?"

"Let me think some more.. Yes. I think I see it now. Yes!"

She quickly approached Keiichi. She stopped and scanned his face carefully, her hazel eyes were inches from his, looking straight into them, as if she was searching into the very depths of his soul. "My dear father, I must ask you an important question. Please think carefully before you answer, then answer me truthfully."

"Go ahead and ask. Anything."

She took a deep breath, then she asked him, "Father, now that you have died, been judged, your sins forgiven, and been cleansed and made pure in His blood.."

"Yes?"

"Do you still love Belldandy like you did before? That love, that feeling, is it still within your heart?"

"Yes. It is."

"Are you sure? Your love for Belldandy is the same as before you died?"

"Yes. I am sure."

"So, it was neither washed away, cleansed, changed, nor reduced?"

"No, it was not."

She gently touched his face. "I think I see it now. Tell me, do you still love Him as well, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength?"

"Of course."

She sighed with relief. "Ah. I know has happened. Oh, I am such an idiot! I was so worried for nothing. And it explains why you were permitted to leave His presence on level 24. It's so obvious now. I'm an idiot. Father, you can kick me if you want."

He grinned, "It's all right.."

Then she walked purposefully behind him and gave him a gentle, yet firm, push towards the great door. "Get moving. Go inside. She's waiting for you. Don't let my foolishness delay you any longer."

"But wait.. tell me.. Is she cast out of Heaven?"

"Yes." She smiled as she said it.

Keiichi was incredulous. "Lindy.. please don't mess with me. Will Belldandy and I be together forever? I need to know. Answer me. Tell me straight out. Give me a simple answer: Yes or no?"

Her eyes narrowed. Forever? Did Keiichi realize what he said? Well, she would give him a truthful answer regardless.

"Yes."

"But she is cast out of Heaven?"

"Yes."

His face fell and he looked dejected. "I see. I get it now." He sighed. "I will follow her out of Heaven when she gets cast out." Lindy looked at him with some confusion as he continued on. "So this love story is actually a tragedy. Somehow I will forsake Him and follow her right out of Heaven, down to our destruction.."

She quickly held up both of her hands. "Keiichi, stop talking! You're wrong. If anything it is quite the opposite. It will be wonderful. You will be together in the True Heaven with Belldandy, forever, as soon as you enter that door." She pointed. "That is where you belong, and there you will stay. Together, forever."

"Then I don't understand.. she is cast out?"

She gently held his hand. "Yes."

"I don't get it."

"Belldandy will explain it." She let go of his hand and turned away. "Oh, I feel so foolish. My concerns were unfounded. All I did was upset you. I should have respected her wishes and kept quiet."

"So everything will be all right, then?"

She turned back. "Oh yes."

"But how..?"

_Peponi, peponi, peponi.._

"Please let her explain it." She then lowered her head before him in shame. "Keiichi, I apologize. It was my fault for needlessly distressing you."

"It's okay. I know you only did it because you love me. You were just trying to help me."

"I'm sorry.. Yes, I was."

"Then I forgive you."

Her knowing smile grew, "Yes. You do."

Then she coaxed him along. "Just go now. Go inside. She is waiting. I will take care of mother. Don't worry."

He stood before the great door.

He took a deep breath, then he pulled on the bar, and the door opened slowly.

The blast of heat and light was overwhelming. He tightly shut his eyes against the sheer intensity of the actinic blue-white glare, then he raised his arm to protect the rest of his face and went inside.

The massive door swung closed behind him.

He was Inside.

* * *

Lindy stood alone for several moments.

Then she saw that there was no longer any door.

Finally she said, "Farewell."

With great care she picked up her mother's body from the glassy floor. She marvelled at how light she was, almost like a feather.

She gently brushed away a lock of hair that was between her eyes.

It did not fall back again.

She whispered quietly to the small sleeping girl, "Mother, it is time I finally brought you home."

And the glassy expanse was empty.

* * *

**A/N:**

It was so hard for me to write those last lines for Skuld, the last that I will ever write for her. (The remaining material in this story I wrote long ago.) She's been inside my head for so long, teasing me, challenging me, encouraging me to do better.

Goodbye, you magnificent brat. I will miss you.

-HuuskerDu

P.S. A big thank you goes to Angelalex242 for doing a beta of this chapter.

* * *

**A/N Update:**

**Disclaimer about the Gnostic Heresy:** You will notice that there are a lot of secrets tossed around in this story. Most of them are merely plot contrivances to drive the story or to create surprise reveals. (For example, there is a surprise reveal at the start of the next chapter regarding Belldandy's physical appearance on Earth. After I reveal it to you, you might never look at her the same way again.)

Just to make things clear, there is no gnosticism in this fic. The gnostic heresy goes all the way back to the beginning, where John himself had to slap it down in 1 John. I suspect Paul was also referring to the same problem in some of his letters. The problem of gnosticism is where you brag 'I got a secret, nyah nyah!' It's human nature. 'I know something, you don't, nanny nanny boo boo!'

The problem is that this a human attempt to steal God's prerogatives. It is a side effect of the Oldest Sin (Man trying to become God). I think the reason that gnosticism keeps popping up over and over throughout human history is because God does have His secrets. And like kids we want to imitate our parents and do the same thing and brag, 'I've got a secret and you don't, nyah nyah!'. Now, Jesus did say, 'In my Father's house there are many mansions, if it were not so I would tell you.' But He is being honest about it, see? We will never know those secrets until we cross to the other side. But the Deep Truths that are accessible down here? The ones that we do have access to down here on this level of reality? They are all plain and obvious. All of them.

This is why I detest Dan Brown and his best-selling books and films, _The Da Vinci Code_ , and _Angels and Demons_. Dan Brown is peddling the worst kind of snake oil. He is appealing to our natural desire to know a secret that nobody else knows. But on a spiritual level? I think he is on a par with Judas Iscariot, leading souls astray for money. At least Judas had the decency to kill himself for doing it. This guy is living large on the backs of destroyed souls. I would rank the evil that Dan Brown has caused below that of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Nero the Romulan, Emperor Palpatine, Sauron, or Rachel Carson (her overblown hysteria against DDT has allowed malaria to kill at least 50 million people to date), but not much lower.


	39. The Five Secrets Revealed

**Chapter 39: The Five Secrets Revealed**

The door closed behind Keiichi.

He was Inside.

_Belldandy?_

_I've been waiting for you._

_I'm so sorry that you had to wait for me all this time._

_Oh no, Keiichi, from my perspective I only had to wait for a little while. I'm the one who should apologize. I know it was a very long time for you._

_Somehow it doesn't seem so long anymore._

_That is because time has little meaning in this place. Oh, Keiichi, you're here. I'm so happy._

_Belldandy.. you look.. wonderful. Is this your true form?_

_Yes, it is._

_And your mother as well?_

_Keiichi, Anzus is not my mother. She and I were created at the same time, the seven of us. Four of us are always in rotation. I was in rotation myself until recently. Anzus almost never leaves it._

_That's why we hardly ever saw her in Asgard._

_Yes._

_Belldandy, you look so beautiful. Now that I can see the real you._

_Few other celestial beings can approach me like this. Normally they would be burned up if they got too close._

_Can.. can I come closer? I'm not afraid._

_Yes, my love, I will allow you to approach me. No one else._

_All right.. Belldandy, I'm coming closer now._

_Please wait a moment._

She changed into her human form. Keiichi saw her six great wings furl up. The wings transformed into six long strands of hair that sprouted from the center of her forehead in long arcs. Those graceful curved strands beautifully framed her smiling face.

Everyone on Earth who ever saw Belldandy had remembered those long strands of hair. They were her most distinctive feature. Now he knew why.

Her transformation was complete. She was wearing a green dress with long sleeves. Her arms were folded down pleasantly in front of her dress.

Then she raised her arms out towards him, opening them wide.

_It's safe for you to approach me now. Oh Keiichi, I want to hug you and never let go._

And so, after uncounted eons, the lovers finally embraced.

They kissed, they talked, they laughed.

Time passed. How much time? It was impossible to tell.

Slowly he began to understand who and what Belldandy really was, and what she represented. He started to feel ashamed that he had presumed so much with his foolish wish.

He now understood the audacity of his attempt to capture such a great celestial being for himself. His presumption.

_No, my love, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You were innocent, you didn't know. And your wish was a blessing to us both._

_Belldandy, I was so foolish._

_No, your wish had a very important purpose._

_I know that now. In addition to bringing us together, it enabled me to fulfill my role with the White Angel. I shared my compassion with her, to counterbalance her red fire, to rein in her zeal, and so I helped to perfect her. I enabled her to fulfill her own destiny, and in doing so I helped saved Asgard and Niflheim from their mutual self-destruction._

_Yes, you did. You performed your duty to Skuld wonderfully. But there was more to the wish than that. The wish also had another important purpose besides simply bringing us together._

_Which was?_

_Keiichi, I've been so alone._

_I know, I'm sorry. I'm here now._

_That's not what I mean. You know I've always been different. From everyone else. Even my sisters never really understood me. Not really. I always stood apart from them._

_Belldandy.._

_Even with you there was always a separation between us. Yes, we loved each other wholeheartedly. But you didn't really know me. You couldn't. You were a mortal. Even if you were somehow elevated to first class rank, or even up to the level of an Aggregate Principal Representative, you still wouldn't have known me. And that was my burden, that I would remain alone forever. You were my love, but you could never really understand me._ _And I accepted it._

_And now?_

_Oh my dearest, you've changed so much. You've shared minds with celestial beings. You've witnessed the end of history. You've toured the transverse. You've seen and known love in ways that no other being has ever experienced. You have seen the truth and have grown wise. And in your long, long, journey to reach me up here, with my dear younger step-sister as your guide, you've now shared many of the same experiences, seen many of the same things, suffered the same losses and joys, that I have experienced myself in my own life._

_Belldandy.._

_Keiichi, after all you've been through, after all you've experienced, you are now in a position to finally understand me, to comprehend my innermost thoughts, to truly know me._

She looked down. _And that was so selfish of me. To put you through all that. I am so sorry._

_Belldandy, don't apologize. The journey was worth it. I've learned so much. I think I understand you now. You did the right thing._

_No, I was being selfish. The Jerusalem Ark had arrived here ages ago. You could have simply stayed with the Lamb and ridden on the Ark and come to me much more quickly that way. And if you had looked back upon that journey, it would have seemed to you like the blink of an eye._ _But instead I had instructed my step-sister to kidnap you and put you on that endless odyssey with her, to change you, to mold you, to give you understanding. To transform you into someone who was capable of fully understanding and loving a seraph._

_Yes, but..._

_Keiichi, your journey lasted forever. I know that you cannot remember it all because you are only a finite being, but it took forever. I made you wait literally forever before you could join me. I am so sorry._

_Belldandy, no.. you did the right thing. And if I had the choice I would have done it all over again. To know you, to understand you, it allows me to love you all that much more. I can share your mind now, and you can share your mind with me. I spent hundreds of years in a mental bond with Skuld. She was an Aggregate Principal Representative, the most powerful angel that existed in my world. That was practice for me, wasn't it? My mental bond with Skuld was part of my training so that I would be ready to share my mind with a much more powerful being, a seraph._

_Yes, it was. If we tried to share minds I would have overwhelmed you, possibly even destroyed you. I could never take that chance. You needed centuries of mental practice with my step-sister first. You see, intimacy for our kind is always done that way, but for it to work the minds must be on the same level, lest one mind dominate the other. That was why the Bond spell was only permitted between minds of the same rank. And so that was why I had to prepare you, to raise you up, to become my equal, not in power or authority, but in understanding._

_Then I am ready now. The bond, the tour, what I've learned with Skuld, what I know. I'm ready._

_Yes, yes! You are. You are finally ready. I can share myself with you now. Now you won't be overwhelmed. Finally now.. oh, my Keiichi.._

_I'm ready to join with you._

_Yes, my love. I am so happy._

_But there's one thing I still don't quite understand. The wish. I now know that it was planned, but.._

_Don't you see? The wish was not for you.._

_Belldandy?_

_.. the wish was for me._

_But, but how? Belldandy, when I made that wish you were totally surprised. I saw the expression on your face. You were in total shock. Then you immediately made a panicky phone call to confirm it._

_Yes. Let me explain. It was because I had been secretly spying on you, watching your life, for years. It was part of my duty on the Goddess Help Line to search the Earth for mortal candidates whose bad misfortune would make them eligible to receive a wish. I must admit I was still a bit immature then. So like many girls I started to daydream a bit. I had several idle daydreams about you. It was because I saw on the monitor screen how you were so kind, so innocent, so pure at heart. I cheered you along and encouraged you every day. Then slowly I became infatuated with you. That is, I fell in love with the idea of falling in love with you. I didn't actually know you of course; it was only a fantasy of mine. I began to fantasize about living a life with you or someone like you. I knew it was completely silly, of course. It was preposterous. It was a harmless idle dream that young girls so often have. I knew it could never really happen because you were human and I am immortal, and I knew that there was no way that a human like you could ever actually become my soulmate. But in my daydreams I pretended that you had. Yes, it was just a silly fantasy of mine. But then you made your wish.._

_And so your little fantasy suddenly seemed to be coming true. And it terrified you._

_It did. I had trapped myself. I knew that as a mortal you would love me with everything you had, but I could not fully return it. Because if I had, the power of my love would have overwhelmed you. Perhaps even have destroyed you. So I would always have to keep myself in check. Keiichi, at no time on Earth did I ever reveal to you more than a small fraction of my true power. I didn't dare._

_Of course. You were a first class entity with an unlimited license. You had to wear metal limiters at all times._

_Yes, I had to. Otherwise I was so powerful that I could have even destroyed the Earth._

_And that is why you almost never took them off._

_True, but it was more than that. There was another reason I could not fully love you. For you see, whenever I express my love at full strength I lack the ability to restrain my power. It is because we seraphs have no need for that kind of self-control. Whenever we are in rotation we explode in light. We outstretch all our wings and sing 'Holy, Holy, Holy...' And in our joy in exalting and glorifying Him we do it with all our love with all our strength, and so we are unlimited and completely unrestrained. That is why it is incredibly dangerous for a seraph to be living on Earth. It is no exaggeration to say that if I had fully expressed my love for you, Keiichi, even while wearing all of my limiter jewelry, that I still could have destroyed the Earth without even realizing it._

_But, unlike you, the Lion of Judah does possess that kind of self-control, the strength, to restrain His full power on Earth when He expresses His love for us. And that power is so much greater.._

_Oh, it is unimaginably greater. Even now His power is still beyond your comprehension. And that power is farther above mine than I am above you. That was why He almost never revealed His full glory during His Incarnation on Earth. For it would be too strong for the world to contain it. It was only during His Transfiguration did He did so*, and even then it was only the smallest glimmer of His real power. And I am so much less than Him, being only a mere created servant, one that only possesses only the smallest reflection of the light of the Lamb._

_Keiichi, that was why the wish shocked me so much, for I knew that we were simply not compatible, that a true relationship between us would be impossible._

_Belldandy, no wonder you were so frightened when I made the wish. You knew it had to be no coincidence that your idle school-girl fantasy was suddenly coming true._

_Yes, I was so scared. But I was happy too. And sad. I was sad because I knew that I could never fully reveal myself to you. I could never share my spirt with you, even in the afterlife. You could never become my soulmate. I would always be with you, true, but.._

_.. but you would still be alone inside._

_Yes._

_You would have blocked off much of yourself and kept your full feelings and emotions hidden from me. That was because even in death, when all the secrets were revealed to me, I still could not even begin to understand them all. Or you._

_Sadly, no._

_And so that is why we were never allowed to be physically joined on Earth. I was not ready._

_Again sadly no. You were not ready. Real intimacy requires the sharing of the spirit as well as of the body. You were simply not on my level. And if we had become physically intimate, I would have shared my spirit with you, and before I could have stopped myself I would have burned you, and maybe even destroyed you. Now, I suppose that I could have given you just my shell, my physical body, but that was something we both knew that neither of us would have wanted. Mere lust. It was the reason Tyr had blocked your eros, so that you would not be burdened with such base physical temptation, because otherwise you would have failed the test of the Judgement Gate, and it would have prevented you from from ever reaching me here._

_Belldandy, I would have never done something like that to you, even without Tyr's block to prevent me. I know I only failed you that one time, when Skuld kicked me out of her head and had tossed me backwards in time back to when you were still alive, when you pushed me away on the kitchen floor, but I know I would have stopped myself even then before things got out of hand. I loved you too much to do that to you._

_Keiichi.. I have another confession to make. You were stronger than me on that day. True, I was able to push you away the second time, but if you had approached me again a third time, I would have let you. I would have let you have my body. That was just another example of my awful selfishness._

_No! Compared to you I was a far worse sinner. Much, much worse. I was the selfish one, not you. Any selfishness you think you might have had doesn't light a candle compared to my own._

_Keiichi, my love, whatever do you mean?_

_My selfishness, or rather my presumption. It was crazy for me to even imagine being with you, to try to claim you. To try to grab and possess a seraph just for myself - a seraph! How could I possibly try to justify wanting to claim such an exalted heavenly being? Someone as majestic as you, all just for myself? It was so wrong of me._

_Oh no, no! No, Keiichi. Don't you see? It was me. I wanted you to claim me, to take me for yourself. I wanted you to do it._

_You wanted me to?_

_Oh yes. The selfishness was mine, not yours. I wanted you to claim me. It was because I was claiming you. I wanted you for myself. I understand now why was I so weirdly jealous of anyone else whom I suspected might possibly steal you away from me, no matter how unlikely. My jealousy was so strange. Why was I so jealous? I think it was because, unconsciously, I had already known that you were the only man who could ever possibly truly understand me, who could ever to hope to comprehend who I really am, how I truly think and feel, and who could reach me all the way up here. There was no one else who could have done what you did. You were the only one for me. The only one. The only possible one. And I knew it._

_Keiichi, that was why I was never jealous of my step-sister falling in love with you. Indeed, I encouraged it. I had even arranged for her to become your spouse, just like I did with your first wife. It was because they were the only ones whom I could trust, first to protect you, then to prepare you, to guide you through a whole human lifetime, to gain all those experiences, to lift you up, and then to take you on that tour, and finally to bring you to me. My step-sister was the only one who could have brought you here that way. And she did._

_She did. She brought me to you._

_Yes, my love. When you died you were forgiven by the blood of the Lamb and made white. You are now pure and sinless, which is why you can stand here before me in this place. Humans have that wonderful gift of unconditional forgiveness of their sins._

She looked down again. _But my sin cannot be forgiven so easily as yours._

_Belldandy..?_

_You see, when you made your surprising wish, my heart told me that it had happened on purpose, that it was for a reason. But why? How? At first I was confused and terrified._

_Then, Keiichi, I began to slowly understand. The wish was not for you. It was for me. Or rather, for us. First for Skuld, and then ultimately for us. And as important as your duty was to her, I believed that was not the primary purpose of the wish, that the true purpose of the wish was something more, something very personal to me. It was an opportunity. It was a chance for me to create a sequence of events that would transform you into someone I could be share my mind and my spirit with, share innermost thoughts, share my innermost self, with someone who could finally understand me fully and completely. Someone I could love as my equal._

_So that I would become your soulmate._

__Yes, to transform you into the one person with whom I could share my soul with, for eternity. But.. but what I did was wrong._ _

__No, Belldandy, you have nothing to forgive, not to me. I am happy about what you did to me. I am happy that you sent me on that tour so that I could finally understand you. And I would have gladly done it again._ _

__Thank you, my darling. And it makes me glad to hear you say that. But that is not what I mean. You see, in my desire to mold you into my true mate, I had committed a sin. Not against you, but against Him._ _

__But.._ _

_Keiichi, a seraph has sinned. This is a very serious matter. Therefore I have submitted myself for judgment and punishment for my sin, my selfishness._

_Surely.._

_And for my punishment I am cast out of Heaven._

_Belldandy.. no!_

She smiled at him. _Relax, my dear love. It was already done._

_What?_

_I am already cast out._

_Wait, you mean it already happened?_

_Yes, it did._

_But then how are you still here..?_

_Because I have returned._

_I don't understand. I thought that angels did not receive forgiveness like that?_

_True, we are not forgiven, at least not easily. The reason we are rarely forgiven is that we already know the truth, so any sin that we commit is that much greater._

She lowered her head in shame. _And my sin was very great indeed._

_What did you do? Lindy has already told me that your love for me was not in itself considered sinful. She said it was something else, something that happened after I died._

_Yes. And you already know what it was. You were supposed to ride up on the Jerusalem Ark, but instead I placed you on that long journey. What I did to you was terrible. At one point, on level 24, you were even in the presence of the Son of God Himself! You were in a perfect state of grace. And yet I induced you to leave Him. And you did. You left Him for me!_

_But He said.._

_Keiichi, what I did was awful. And so I was convicted for my selfishness, for putting my own wants and desires ahead of His. There was a trial. All the other seraphs were in attendance. I was judged and convicted._

* * *

And so Belldandy explained to Keiichi what had happened to her.

She was cast out of Heaven.

For her punishment, the great Holy Seraph that was Verdthandi was stripped of her power and authority and rank as a seraph. She was diminished, to be reborn in her exile in a remote and puny backwater pocket universe of only a few thousand stars, in a realm known as Asgard.

And so she was reborn as one of the lowly Asgardian angels. These were minor beings who, in their presumptive pride, had often called themselves 'gods' and 'goddesses', even though they were actually quite mortal, for they were born and could die, with a 10,000 year natural life span.

She entered her exile as the child of Tyr and Anzus. Anzus was the child's mother, which she produced as the second daughter for Tyr, although in fact it would have been more accurate to call Belldandy her sister, since Anzus was in fact another seraph who was originally created at the same time as Verdthandi herself.

Tyr never knew Belldandy's true nature, although he always suspected that she was not a normal child, and indeed that she was far greater than what she appeared to be, like his wife was. (He already had known that Anzus herself had originated from some mysterious higher order.) Nor did Belldandy realize it herself, for only Anzus knew who her sister-daughter really was.

Meanwhile, Anzus returned back to resume her duty on rotation with the seraphim. This was why Anzus was almost never seen in Asgard. After giving birth and before she left, she had established a permanent mental link with Tyr so that she could continue to serve as Tyr's veto-spouse in her role as the co-ruler with the Daitenkaicho of Asgard, so that her physical presence on that world was no longer necessary. And it also allowed her to keep a second on eye on Belldandy.

And so the little girl that was Belldany was born. And she slowly matured in beauty, stature, and grace. And as she matured she grew in her gentle innate nature, her kindness, and her love for all living things, and so she had blossomed like a beautiful flower.

Now, many Asgardians could sense that Belldandy was somehow different, that she was special, that she seemed to have some kind of hidden potential, a hidden power, a power that was much greater than her rank and appearance would otherwise suggest. One of them was Celestine, a proud demigod, who immediately sensed her potential power and so took her under her wing when she was young. After she had grown to adulthood, Celestine returned and mind-raped her and used her as a vessel to attempt to dominate and remake the world in his own image. Belldandy was forced to tap into her hidden power to break free of his mental control in order to stop him. It was the first time in her entire life that she ever used her hidden power herself**, a power that she did not know she had up until that time. It was because, even though Celestine had previously erased all memory of Keiichi from Belldandy's mind, she was able to meet Keiichi again as if for the first time, and so she fell in love with the pure-hearted man all over again. And it was Belldandy's rekindled love for Keiichi that enabled her to wrest herself free from Celestine's mind-control and save the world from his madness.***

It was after that near-calamity that it was decided that Belldandy's true identity should be revealed to her. And so Anzus appeared to her sister-daughter in a dream, wherein she revealed to Belldandy her true nature as a seraph. But she did not reveal the reason for Belldandy's exile.

And so ever after, whenever Belldandy was sleeping and dreaming on Earth, she would reawaken in a celestial château that was located a few levels down from the Top. She shared it with Anzus and the other seraphs whenever they were out of rotation and resting. And whenever she fell asleep in that high place she would reawaken on Earth. This was why Belldandy's power-regeneration method was sleep, whereas Skuld's was eating ice cream, and Urd's was drinking sake. For whenever Belldandy was sleeping in that little bamboo and pine temple in Nekomi Japan, she was regaining her strength and power from Above.

And so she remained in exile. And her love for Keiichi grew.

This was why Belldandy always had a hidden melancholy side as she lived on Earth, for she knew that she was exiled from the True Heaven (though she did not know why), and so she believed that she would be forever separated from Him and His love. And she knew that she would always be separated from Keiichi as well, at least in part, because a mortal could never possibly hope to understand her true nature as a seraph, or even survive it. And so she could never fully share herself with him. He could never become her soulmate, at least not while he was alive.

But she remained happy, for she was indeed with Keiichi, who was the love of her life. And even if her love for him was neither complete nor perfect (for indeed it was far from perfect due to her possessiveness and latent jealousy), she nevertheless felt that it was enough for her.

And so she was content.

But she knew her time with Keiichi was not to last. Not only because he was mortal, but also because that she knew that she herself would die one day. For it was due to her committing a sin in Heaven that she knew she would have to eventually perish. It was because the wages of sin was death.

Always.

The wages of sin was always death.

And so she knew that she must die.

And this troubled her. Not her own death, no, she did not mind that. But rather, it was the possibility that her death would distress Keiichi, that she might pass before he did. She fervently wished and prayed that could be avoided. But it was not to be. For Anzus had revealed to her that one day she would indeed die, and that she would die right in front of Keiichi, but that she would do so in sacrifice of her life to save him, and that she would succeed. And for that she was glad. And so when Hild attempted to assassinate the entire first-class leadership of Asgard with the Black Ichor grenade that she had hidden inside her garment, it was Belldandy who sensed it and jumped to throw herself upon it, and she saved all the gods and goddesses that day, and she saved Keiichi's life as well.

For greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for another.

And so Hild, who was standing in the Great Hall of Valhalla, surrounded by all of the first-level gods and goddesses of that high place, all of whom were now overflowing with anger and wrath for the terrible crime that she had just committed within their realm, had killed Hild on the spot.

Or so they believed.*4

Thanks to Anzus, Belldandy had known that she was going to eventually die to save Keiichi, and so she had already begun preparations for it in secret. She had beseeched her biological father, Tyr, to help her formulate a plan that would allow Keiichi to some day join with her in the afterlife in a true union. She asked him to help prepare Keiichi both in life and in death. And out of his love for his daughter he gladly assented to help her as best he could, to help her ultimately achieve her union with her true love.

And then, after the Götterdämmerung of Ragnarök, after all the first-class gods and goddesses of Asgard and Niflheim were slain, and after Skuld had brought Keiichi up to Asgard to be her advisor in her role as the new Daitenkaicho, Belldandy had visited Skuld in a dream. Belldandy asked her if she would go on a mission to help carry out her plan for Keiichi, a mission that would be long, difficult, and dangerous.

And Skuld agreed with great joy, although she confessed that she was frightened of the immensity of the task, of the burden that was to be laid on her shoulders. But despite that fear she said that she would do anything for her Big Sis. And so Skuld set out on the task that was appointed to her.

And during that time Belldandy again visited Skuld in her dreams to reassure the scared girl that she and Keiichi would indeed work together to save Asgard and Niflheim, and unite the two kingdoms, and save them all from mutual self-destruction.

And so, for the rest of her life on Earth, Belldandy had loved Keiichi. She had loved him as much as she could given the limitations placed upon both of them, and they rejoiced in their time together.

And in their many trials and tribulations together, in their many battles against their enemies, in their withstanding against adversity of all kinds, their love grew.

And grew.

* * *

_So now do you understand, my love?_

_Belldandy, it all sounds wonderful, but your explanation doesn't make sense to me. It sounds like your punishment is what caused you to fall in love with me in the first place! I mean, how is that even possible? How can you be punished something you haven't even done yet?_

_Oh, Keiichi, don't you see?_

_Maybe it is because I'm not ten-dimensional, but I still don't understand how could I have made the wish to you if you weren't exiled first. You had to first be cast out of Heaven, be reborn as Belldandy, and grow up, right? Then you had to join the Goddess Help Line, then I had to make my wish to you. We fell in love. Then you committed your sin to bring me here like this. This doesn't make sense. It's backwards._

_Keiichi, you should already know how it was done. Skuld has told you that time has no correlation between reality levels, between Heaven and Earth. Each level of reality operates on its own time schedule. And she told you that a lower level can be re-entered at any point within the lower time stream, including going backward in time relative to that level._

_Ah, so that explains the time paradox. The causality loop._

_Yes._

_I see... So it was His plan all along. So that explains what He told me, then._

Belldandy was surprised.

_What? Keiichi, you have spoken with Him? Really?_

_Yes, I have._

_You did? What did He say to you?_

_It happened so long ago, but I remember it now. I was Inside, standing there before Him. On level 24. He had asked me, "Why is your heart troubled, my child?" It was because no person should have a troubled heart in that Holy Place. I answered Him truthfully. I think He knew what I was going to say before I did myself. Anyway, I told Him. Then He simply smiled and said that I had permission to leave, and indeed I should, for no person with a troubled heart should remain in that place. He then reassured me and reminded me that He is always in control, and He bade me farewell._

_He reassured you?_

_Yes. He told me that I would see Him again later._

_And He told you that you had permission to leave that Place?_

_He did._

Belldandy's face lit up with understanding.

_Of course! So this was His plan all along. Keiichi, oh, I am so relieved! Thank you for telling me. So that was why I was pardoned and allowed to re-enter Heaven._

_Yes._

_Keiichi, I think He did that for you. He pardoned me for you. I think it was for your sake, not mine, that He did so. Because He loves you that much._

_Lord, thank you._

_And now I see what happened. I was informed that they had all prayed for for me during my trial, and for us: Skuld, Lind, Thoriko, Lindy, Chrono, Urd, Peorth, Tyr, Anzus, all of them, they all prayed to Him and asked for His intercession and forgiveness according to His will. So He petitioned with the Father, and.._

_.. you were pardoned and forgiven._

_Yes. At first I did not know how or why I was pardoned, because I know that such pardons are almost never given, but I see it now. It was, in part, because of those prayers, because my actions were done out of love - our mutual self-sacrificial love for each other - but mostly it was done for out of His love for you._

_And that love is without measure. I know I can never repay that debt. And so we fell in love with each other and the cycle was complete._

_Yes._

_So you think that the One allowed it because our love for each other was a reflection of His own love, for His love for all of us?_

_Hmm, yes. I think I understand it now. It was His plan all along. Oh, Keiichi, I love you so much. And now that I know what has happened, I love Him even more._

* * *

_Do you finally understand now, my darling?_

_Belldandy, I think I do. I see it all now, not just His plan for the two of us, but for everyone. For all of Creation. I see it. This was all just a demonstration exercise, done by God, for our benefit. All of us. He wants us to see, to understand, and to appreciate what He has done. The whole point of Creation is for His glory. Of Him: The universe, the heavens, life large and small, from the largest dinosaur to the smallest bacterium, and everything in-between. And it is no accident that it is all visible to us, that we can actually see it all, that we can see the whole glory of Creation, which shines as a reflection of His own glory._

_Yes._

_Glorification, that's the key. God is saying, "Look upon my Creation and see what I have done, for I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." This is what He basically told Job when He admonished him for complaining about why his life sucked so bad. In response God ticked off a long list of his greatest creations, then He asked Job if he was there when He created them. "Where you there? Do you how they were done? Answer me!" He was telling Job to shut-up and get a clue, that he was failing to give God the praise and honor that was due to Him regardless of our life circumstances. This is what Job failed to understand as he wallowed in his own self-pity._

_Keiichi, let me ask you. Do you understand what that word means, what it means to 'glorify' something? It is very, very important._

_Yes, it's the key. At first it seemed really confusing to me. If God has all the glory, then how can we glorify Him? How can we give Him something, glory, that He already has? On the surface it doesn't seem to make sense._

_And do you understand it now?_

_I think I do. And its meaning is rather deep. In John 17:22-23, Jesus spoke the following prayer in front of His disciples, "[Father] the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity." Read those verses carefully. Think about what He just said._

_Oh very good, Keiichi. So you do see it._

_Yeah, but I didn't at first. It took me a long time to finally figure out what was going on when He spoke those words. Originally it seemed incredibly confusing to me. I couldn't grasp what He was saying. Jesus appears to be giving God's glory to us! Huh? How can that be? Shouldn't glory always flow in the other direction? From us to Him? And doesn't He have all the glory already anyway? Then I understood: Glory is the vehicle that conveys and reveals the true presence of God: His essence, His life, His identity. Glorification is a process, a transfer mechanism._

_It flows both ways._

_Yes. It is bidirectional. Glory flows from us to Him and from Him to us. But the latter happens only when our minds are unified with His own via the Holy Spirit. That is what Jesus meant when He said that we ourselves receive glory when we are 'perfected in unity', and 'we are one'. It is intimacy, with Him._

_Yes, it is._

_That is so wonderful._

_So now you are ready to answer my next question: Why do I always go to pick up any little bird that I see falling from a tree? Why do I heal it, and then I put it back in the tree again?_

_It is because when you returned that little birdie to the tree it was an act, a gesture, of your love for Him. Your love as evidenced through his wonderful and glorious Creation, which in itself glorifies Him, which was the point of creating everything in the first place, large and small, from largest galactic superclusters to down to smallest little birds._

_Oh Keiichi, you do understand!_

_Yes, because I now know what 'to glorify' something really means. It is the secret at the heart of Christianity. And it is a secret that is not a secret. It is so deep yet so simple, and it explains everything: why creation exists, why the Lamb had to die, why we have independent existence, and why we have free will._

_For otherwise God would merely be glorifying Himself._

_Yes! And that's the key. It is the giving of glory, where we become 'perfected in unity' between us and the Son, just as the Son is with the Father. It is the means by which we can draw close to Him. It is intimacy. It's exactly the same thing that those 'The Piano Guys' musicians are doing, whenever they play a love song to God. They are doing it all to glorify Him. You can see it on Steven Sharp Nelson's face whenever he plays that cello. He plays that cello with as much power and strength and depth and emotion as he possibly can, all for Him._

_Yes, my darling, now you know. You know why I was always humming and singing when I washed your dirty clothes or when I swept the floor clean. And why I exult and soar with limitless joy whenever I am in rotation around the Throne, when I expand all of my wings and give Him all of the glory that I can, with all of my heart, with all of my strength._

She looked down. _And that was why my sin was so terrible, because it caused that unity to break, as I separated myself from Him in my own sinfulness._

_It was because God cannot abide any sin in His presence, because otherwise it would break that unity, that flow of glory, that is embodied in that transfer mechanism called glorification._

_Sadly, that is true. That is why sin must always be cast out. But I was later pardoned and forgiven. And although that time of my life was very difficult for me, I now understand that it was all part of His plan, as it allowed us to meet and fall in love, and our love for each other is a reflection of His love, for you, for me, for everyone._

_All for His glory._

_Yes. And it was through the many trials and tribulations that we had experienced together that our love has been perfected. And it was such a long and hard road, especially for you._

_And for you, too._

* * *

_Keiichi, I see that you indeed are ready._

_I think I am._

_And so I have some good news for you. I have submitted a request, and permission has been granted for our spiritual union._

_Oh Belldandy, that's wonderful!_

_But, Keiichi, I need to caution you. I was sternly warned._

_Warned? Why?_

_My darling, there is a very good and sound reason why unions of this kind are normally not permitted._

_Why not? Because I am a mortal?_

_That is true, but only indirectly. Actually it is for another good reason._

* * *

And so Belldandy showed him.

She changed back into her true form. Again the seraph was surrounded in a blazing blue fire.

_Because this is who I really am._

_Belldandy, your true form does not frighten me. I've seen your appearance before in the crystal. I am not afraid. Indeed, I think you look even more beautiful this way._

_Oh thank you, my darling. But that is not what I mean. You see, my love, there is just one more step you must take. One final step. I must ask you one last question before we can finally be united. Think of it as a final test of our love._

_Keiichi, are you ready to share my fire now? Even if it burns you?_

He did not need time to consider his answer to her question. _Yes. I am ready._

_All right. I'm going to come closer now. If my presence overwhelms you, cry out and I'll back away quickly._

_I won't cry out._

_No, please do. I don't want to hurt you._

_You won't hurt me._

_Get ready then. I'm coming closer._

Keiichi braced himself. And so, in her true form, she slowly, and oh so carefully, began to move toward him. He felt her heat on his face. She grew nearer. Then he felt like he was losing himself, that the blazing blue light of her flame would utterly destroy him. He felt intense pain, but he willed himself to not cry out. And then she touched him. Her blue fire enveloped him, and it was everywhere, around him, inside him, through him.

The pain subsided, for her blue flame was now burning within him. Now, part of that flame was already there inside him, a fire that was originally kindled within his heart long ago before he had ever arrived in this place, a fire that was granted to him when he was forgiven and purified in His blood. It was his original fire that enabled him to enter this place, to enter her presence and to see her true form, face to face, and not be destroyed by it, by the sheer intensity of her own fire. For although his own fire was neither as large nor as majestic as hers, his smaller personal fire now burned within his heart at the same high temperature as her own, and it meant that her own fire could no longer harm him. Indeed, he rejoiced within its blue blaze.

And so, for the first time in her life, Belldandy was able to embrace another being in her true form. She cried with joy as she wrapped her six fiery wings around him. The blazing blue light of her living fire surrounded them, and she hugged him as tightly as she could.

And her heart leapt, for Keiichi had survived the transformation. He now shared her fire. She had never felt such joy before. She reveled in the experience, to actually touch another being like this, to experience the ecstasy and joy of sharing her innermost thoughts and her spirit with another being who was on the same level as her.

She was no longer alone. For she had found her equal, her soulmate. She whirled and wheeled, twirling with rapturous joy as she shared herself with him.

And then their love caused Belldandy's blue fire to explode into a roaring blaze, with a new intensity that it never had before. It was hotter than the brightest sun in the entire physical universe. Her fire was now even brighter than the greatest blue supergiant suns at the very top-left of the Hertzprung-Russell diagram. Those blue suns were a million times brighter than Sol. And she was now brighter than even them. Her flame exploded into a blaze that was brighter than Spica, that was hotter than Rigel. The great conflagration flared out in all directions, unstoppable. And even that new fire was still only the merest fraction, the slightest glimmer, of the True Fire that she encircled in her duty as a seraph.

For Verdthandi now knew that she would no longer be alone as she flew in that endless path around the Center, that she now had a companion to travel with her, that in her duty she would never be alone again. Not anymore.

Her mind reeled. It was so wonderful, beyond anything she could have hoped for. She spun and soared higher and higher, laughing and shouting in rapturous joy. The seraph rejoiced with the love of her life.

Keiichi reveled in her flame's live-giving power, for it caused his own flame to leap as well. He had never felt so alive.

And so Verdthandi and her soulmate danced in Heaven.

And as he danced with her, Keiichi heard music. It was a melody that Keiichi had never heard before. It was a beautiful song with an endless fugue of themes and motifs, interwoven, with point and counterpoint, complex yet delicate, sonorous, ever changing, never ending. It was the same song that Verdthandi had heard in her mind during her entire life.

Even in her human form down on Earth, when she was busy sweeping the floor of the temple or washing Keiichi's dirty clothes, she could always hear that interwoven melody inside her head. For this was the Great Song, the Song of Creation, the Song of the Fifth Kind of Love, the True Song of Inexpressible Love, flowing endlessly down from the very Top of the transfinite ladder itself, filling ever fiber of her being with life.

Now, Keiichi had believed that he had already known of that Song, for he had the fifth kind of love within him already, and he knew that anyone who experienced such love could hear it, a gift, freely given and unconditional. But he had never before heard it fully expressed like this, in its true transcendent form. And he knew that in sharing her spirit with him, that he would now hear that wonderful music inside his head forever more, and it would never stop.

And so Keiichi was amazed and fell silent.

And then he understood. This was the Song that sustained the Holy Seraph that was Verdthandi, that gave life to one of the greatest angels of Heaven. It was the Song that empowered her flame, her power, her very essence. And if that Song had ever stopped she would be no more. But it never would. For that Song would continue forever, spinning down from the Godhood itself, the Apex of the transfinite ladder, of which Verdthandi's own flame was but a tiny candle in comparison. And that Song was truly eternal. It had already continued beyond the Armageddon of Revelation, beyond the Dagor Dagorath, beyond the Ragnarök, the Final Act and its Great Ending. And it would continue beyond the 'Big Rip' of the observable universe, and even beyond the end of Time itself.

And so, the two lovers rejoiced as they danced to that wondrous melody in Heaven, twirling and spinning in graceful pirouettes. And as they whirled in their endless orbit, Keiichi saw a myriad of other angels, ten thousand times ten thousand*5, as they also circled around the Throne that was in the Center, as they sang with glory and honor and praise to the Great I AM who was seated on that Throne, who is faithful and true, and who has no name, and whose name is Love.

And He smiled upon them.

And so they danced before Him.

They danced not forever.

They danced for Eternity.

* * *

_Level 1, Asgard, morning_

The Daisekaicho had just arrived with a cup of coffee in her hand. She pulled out her office chair.

Lindy was already sitting in her own chair in front of the Daisekaicho's desk. Thoriko greeted her sister as she laid her steaming coffee cup in front of herself and sat down.

"Good morning, Lindy."

"Dear sister."

"Lindy, I know I already said this, but it's so good to see you back again."

Lindy smiled at her sister as she sipped her lemon tea. "Yes. It was a close call. Closer than I like to admit."

That statement surprised the Leader of the World. "Hmm? It was? I didn't know that."

"Yes. Normally anyone who flys that close to the Top is never allowed to return."

"I see. So how did you manage it, then?"

"I can't claim credit. It was Aunt Belldandy. She made a special request. Apparently it was granted."

"Well, I'm glad."

"Me too. Otherwise I would have greatly missed seeing your son grow up."

"Yes, that would have been sad." Thoriko then lowered her coffee cup. "And how, may I ask, is your mentoring of my son coming along, by the way?"

Lindy said brightly, "Ullr is doing well. He is going through my training regimen quite rapidly. Although he is still somewhat brash and impulsive. So I am sorry to report that he is still not first-class material, not yet anyway."

Thoriko replied, "Yes, I know. It's because Ullr takes after his grandmother." She looked down. "And after me."

Lindy spoke up in Ullr's defense, "Oh, but he is working hard to improve his attitude. He knows he needs to change. Just like you did when you were younger."

"Yes."

"And I must say, he is quite the outdoorsman. He's already the best hunter in all of Asgard."

Ullr had invited Lindy several times to go with him on his big hunting trips or on his dangerous sea-hunts for narwal. She had gracefully declined his offers. That Lindy was a steadfast vegetarian might have had something to do with it.

Thoriko smiled again. "He is a mighty hunter indeed. Some are even comparing him to Nimrod."

Lindy sipped her tea again. "Yes, he is a mighty hunter. And proud. Too proud in my opinion. I foresee that there will be conflict between Ullr and Unn some day."

"Oh, I disagree. Unn loves her brother too much for that to happen, and he loves her. Anyway, Ullr is still young. We will keep watch on them both. Meanwhile, please continue to mentor Ullr and teach him compassion and mercy."

"Don't worry, dear sister, I will... One way or another."

Thoriko was about to ask her about that last pointed remark when Keld arrived. "Good morning, my lovely ladies." He then kissed his wife hello.

Instead Thoriko said, "Ah, good. We have our quorum. Shall we begin?" She looked dolefully at the tall pile of multi-colored folders on her desk. She pulled the first folder from the top, a yellow one. She handed out the copies to her two Daiabodaizas.

"All right. Ahem. Agenda item number one. It's fairly straightforward. This is basically a request for a hit job. The problem is with that weird Sculptor galaxy. Apparently, spice mining has been interrupted on a planet named Arrakis because of some shadowy rebel leader named Muad'Dib that nobody has ever seen. The disruption of spice harvesting is really messing up the whole economy in that galaxy. So the CHOAM company directorate there is offering a huge bounty to anyone who can bag this guy."

Keld said, "Sounds good. Let's vaporize him."

Lindy read her folder and said thoughtfully, "Not so fast. I think we should do a recon first. Understand what is really going on."

Keld replied, "Oh, that's such a bother. Do we have time for that?" He pointed at the pile of folders. "Our backlog is huge."

Thoriko put her head in her hands as she looked at the big pile of folders. "Yeah. Tell me about it."

* * *

The business of the day was finally concluded. Keld kissed his wife goodbye, then he departed to mediate yet another tedious dispute between the demon and angel factions on the Great Council, the Daisanji-kai.

Thoriko was now alone again with Lindy as she put away the last folder.

Then Thoriko sighed and slowly banged her forehead on her desk repeatedly. "I hate, hate, hate, this job."

Lindy switched from her role as Daiabodaiza to the role of sister. She quietly walked around the desk and lovingly touched the back of her fraternal twin sister's prostrate head.

Thoriko pulled her head up. "Why am I stuck doing this rotten job and not you?"

"Because you are the right person for it. It needs someone who can make the hard decisions when necessary. That's why Mother was so good at it. You too."

Thoriko rested her chin on her folded hands. "She was tempered by Father."

Lindy touched her sister's cheek. "Yes. And that's why I'm here, dear sister. To temper you like Father did with Mother. I think that was part of the reason why I was allowed to return. To help you."

"Yes, and thank you." She raised her head from the desk. "Hey, I got an idea! Want to swap jobs with me? I'll play the Daiabodaiza and you be the Daisekaicho. Sound good?"

Lindy stroked her sister's hair. "No, dear. It would never work. In my heart I know I'm too soft for that role. The position requires someone with hardness. Mother was right. You are the best choice."

"Feh. Coward."

Lindy ignored her and looked up. "Grandmother could have done this job very well too, I think."

"Grandmother? You mean Mariah?"

"No, I mean our maternal grandmother and step-mother, the combat Valkyrie. The one that defeated Hild with Belldandy, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. It took me a moment to realize who you were talking about. Father's first wife."

Thoriko tilted her head. "Say, I have a question for you. Tell me, why is it that nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever spoken her name aloud since Ragnarök?"

Lindy thought a moment, "Hmm.. that is a good question, I'm not sure. Yes, that is odd. I don't know. I wonder, is speaking her name a taboo?"

For some reason Thoriko got agitated. "Taboo? Then under my personal authority I will break that taboo right now."

Thoriko stood up, her eyes fierce, as she looked up to the heavens. She yelled "Her name was Lind!"

Then she grabbed her warhammer and raised it aloft as she roared even louder,

"HER NAME WAS LIND!"

Lindy was a bit alarmed. "Thoriko, are you okay?"

"Sorry." She lowered her hammer and sat down again. "It just angered me that none of us had ever spoken her name aloud until now. It's like we have all been treating her like she never existed or something. Like she was a non-person. It really pissed me off for some reason. Not sure why."

Lindy watched at her sister with mild concern at her unexpected outburst. "Okay, okay.. just calm down. She's my namesake, remember?"

"Yes, she is." The warrior who became compassionate.

Lindy smiled, "You said 'is', not 'was'. That is very good. She's still doing her mission, you know. Even now."

"Yeah, I know.. Mother had tried to explain it once. It's just so hard for me to understand."

"Our grandmother, I mean Lind, is now working in other mansions, doing important things far beyond our comprehension."

"I wonder what she is doing right now.."

"You just concentrate on your own job, okay? It's hard enough."

"You're right of course." Then Thoriko held her sister's hand. "Just help me to not screw it up, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure. Both of us. Keld too."

They both smiled.

A silence fell.

Then Lindy tilted her head. "Hmm. Now you're waiting for me to leave your office."

Thoriko grinned, "You can read me like a book. Yeah, go on ahead. I'll catch up with you in a little while."

"I see. Keep your secrets then. I'll see you later. Bye." Lindy smiled and left.

* * *

_Don't only practice your art,_

_But force your way into its Secrets._

_For it and knowledge can_

_Raise men to the Divine._

_-Ludwig van Beethoven_

* * *

Thoriko sat alone in the office of the Daisekaicho.

She stood up and quietly opened the door to peek outside. She looked up and down the hall to make sure that no angel or demon was nearby. Then she re-entered her office and locked the door behind her. She sat back down and pushed a secret button under her desk. A small hidden compartment opened.

She pulled out a small crystalline orb that was about five centimeters in diameter, the Summoning Crystal. It was mounted on a flat ceramic plate. She turned it over and pushed a button, then she placed it on her desk before her.

The crystal shimmered a bit, then it glowed. Five small figures appeared on her desktop. The figures were each only a few inches high, but she recognized them clearly. They were the five members of the Morisato family: Keiichi, Belldandy, Skuld, Urd, and Lind. She noticed that Skuld was a child again. She saw that they were smiling and waving at her.

They were all standing on a hillside covered in tall yellow grasses, with outcroppings of what looked like black igneous rock. The hill seemed fairly steep. The sky behind them was white and featureless. She did not recognize the place, nor which level of reality they and it were currently on.

She listened and heard that the Five were playing music, a song, a small echo of the Great Song. Thoriko had never heard such a wondrous melody before.

She saw that Urd was seated on a chair on the steep hillside. There she was playing the cello with passion and power. And as she played, her face was a wonder to behold. Belldandy, Skuld and Lind were singing the accompaniment, and Keiichi was playing a kettle drum and a snare drum. Then she spotted Peorth in the background playing a harp.

Thoriko watched and marveled as she heard them play. She wondered if she was seeing the True Heaven, or some manifestation of it.

And that was what it was. It was a reflection, an echo, of the music of life everlasting: alive, powerful, and eternal. It was a music that was the source and inspiration of the world's greatest composers and painters.

Beethoven knew what that music truly was, what it meant, as did Rembrandt, as did Da Vinci.

Those famous artists did not just practice their art, but they also forced their ways into its secrets. And so through their art they could reveal the Deep Truths of life, of creation, and of God, for such knowledge could raise one to the level of the Divine.

Thoriko placed her chin on the desk and watched in silent wonder as the image of the Morisato family played their great song with passion, with majesty, and with sublimity. For within their song she knew that it contained a reflection of the joy and power of the Great Song, the Song of Inexpressible Love, the same Song that Troubadour failed to find in his futile quest, for in his darkened heart it was beyond his ability to understand, even in its merest echoes.

The air was infused with the song's melody, and Thoriko heard the power and joy of The Five as they performed it. She marveled at what she heard. Tears of joy ran silently down her cheeks as she listened in wonder as The Five continued to create such music, even as their song grew in new power.

Then at that moment Thoriko broke through and felt real joy for the first time in her life, and the scales fell from her eyes.

She understood.

She _knew_.

And it was so simple, so obvious. And it was all right there in front of her the whole time, if only she had the eyes to see it, to finally understand the pure joy that her sister Lindy felt each and every day. It was so simple.

For it was the same commandment that He had given to all of His subjects well over 3,000 years earlier: For as I have loved you and you have loved Me, so you must love one another.

For neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from His love*6, a love that was so strong that He had made the greatest sacrifice that He possibly could in order to achieve it.

And Thoriko saw that her father was now wearing his new heavenly body, which she had never seen before. She gazed in wonder upon the small undistinguished mortal man with the unruly hair that was playing the kettle drums.

And then she then whispered, in the smallest possible voice,

"Keiichi, you made it."

And he smiled back at her.

For he was Home.

**The End**

* * *

**A/N:**

* Matt 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36, 2 Peter 1:16-18

** The second time was when she prevented the Lord of Terror from executing the Ultimate Destruction Program.

*** See the DVD release of the theatrical film _Oh My Goddess_ (1993).

*4 See _The Fifth Kind of Love_ , **Chapter 25: The Dance of Death**.

*5 Rev 5:8-12

*6 Rom 8:38

* * *

**A/N:**

Thank you for reading this story.

This is not a story about fighting drug addiction, nor learning about free will, nor understanding how prophecy works. Rather, it is actually a story about True Love.

Like the songs that are the Psalms, we do not know the actual melody of the love song that The Five played that day in Heaven, as seen within Thoriko's Summoning Crystal. But, perhaps, it is just barely possible, that their song could be glimpsed or hinted at. An example can be found, I think, in the five different melodies heard in the YouTube music video [Beethoven's 5 Secrets - OneRepublic (Cello/Orchestral Cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0)) by ThePianoGuys (5:32). The video has over 42 million views. The orchestra that you see playing accompaniment is the Lycean Philharmonic Youth Orchestra at the American Heritage School for the gifted.

Beethoven held many secrets, including the fact that he was deaf most of his life. He believed that great art held secrets about the nature of creation and of God, and that it was the duty of the artist to force his/her way into these secrets, to gain enlightenment, to receive and share its wisdom, and to make known the power, majesty, and blessings of the Almighty so that we may grow closer to Him.

The amazingly talented cello player in this video is Steven Sharp Nelson, who is a Mormon [hey, nobody's perfect :-)]. Watch his facial expressions as he plays. In his face you can see that he is giving back to God the gifts that were given to him to perform such wondrous music. Simply beautiful.

In my story it is Urd playing that wonderful cello. The image comes straight from Danver's _Haloes_ , an image of her that is now permanently burned into my mind.

Another such song is [Coldplay - Paradise (Peponi) African Style (ft. guest artist, Alex Boye - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgovv8jWETM) (4:46), with over 40 million views. _Peponi_ is Swahili for paradise. There are dozens of other videos on YouTube of various children dancing to this video.

Or listen to [Titanium/Pavane (Piano/Cello Cover) - David Guetta / Faure - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz4MzJTeL0c) (5:59), or [Christina Perri - A Thousand Years (Piano/Cello Cover) - ThePianoGuys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgaTQ5-XfMM) (4:45). Another one is [What Child is This - Lindsey Stirling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A3i0GATnRI) (4:19). These are all performances that celebrate the fifth kind of love, played with almost transcendent passion.

There is a live performance of the first song at [ThePianoGuys Live at Red Butte Garden - Beethoven's 5 Secrets (Cello/Orchestral Cover)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5VWf84r33U) (5:35). As the song builds you will see different groups of youthful performers pop up in the crowd and join in, to the delight of the audience. At the end of the performance you can see tears streaming down Steven Nelson's cheeks as he ends his love song to God, as the audience cheers wildly with a standing ovation.

I have often said that the Bible is a love story. The first part is about God's love for His chosen people and their tempestuous relationship with Him, like that of a wayward child with a parent whose love never wavers no matter how many times that child goes astray. The second part is about His love for all of us, despite the fact that we have all rebelled against that love.

He commands us to love one another because He has loved us from the beginning, with a sacrificial love that is undeserved, unearned, and that transcends our puny human understanding. And so the world's greatest composers and painters attempt to reflect that love back to Him and to us, by 'forcing' their way into its secrets that, on the surface, seem so simple and obvious, and yet are also as deeply profound and subtle as anything the human mind can grasp.

This will likely be my last story in the _Ah! My Goddess!_ universe. At this point the entire main cast has been taken off the stage, and I promised myself I would not dwell mainly on OCs in my fanfics (that being better served in original fiction). I have written far more than I originally intended in the AMG playground (almost 300,000 words total), and so I am quite happy to finally lay down my quill.

Even though this story is now over, I still want your story Favorites/Follows/Reviews (not 'Author' Favorite/Follow). I am competing against 600+ other fics within the Oh! My Goddess section, and I want to kick this story up as high as possible in the ratings so people can find it in the future. So I'd like you to please do that, even if you read this story years from now.

And if you would like to pick up your own quill and continue writing stories in the framework that I have set up, of veto-spouses and foreknowledge, of flat discs and epic sci-fi weaponry, of the descendants of Keiichi and Skuld, of what True Love really is, I would be quite pleased and honored. I would appreciate appropriate attribution if you did so.

Again thank you, dear reader, for reading this story.

-HuuskerDu

P.S. H/T to Angelalex242 for doing a beta of this chapter.


	40. Epilog: Belldandy's Choice

**Epilog: Belldandy's Choice**

Belldandy was busy sweeping the front porch with her broom. She was humming a pleasant tune. Then she heard a commotion on the front lawn.

Skuld was chasing Keiichi with a red mallet. Presumably it was for some perceived slight to her sister's honor. "Keiichi, come back here so I can whomp your crummy head! You stay away from my Big Sis!"

"Aahh! Get away from me!" They were both going around in circles on the lawn.

Skuld yelled, "Stop running, you coward, and take your punishment!"

He dodged another swing. "You're wrong, it's not what you think! I can explain!"

The seraph stopped sweeping the portico. She watched the commotion on the lawn with a small smile.

Her eyes were bottomless pools of languid blue. They were deep and fathomless. And the mind behind those azure orbs was beyond the understanding of any creature or spirit that was not eternal.

Then she sensed that someone was standing behind her.

Belldandy continued to watch Keiichi run from Skuld.

Belldandy said aloud, almost to herself, "Apparently, neither one remembers."

The voice replied, "But you do."

"Yes, thank you."

They continued to watch the chase.

Then Belldandy spoke to the entity standing behind her without turning around. "I am sorry that I am out of rotation again."

The voice said, "For now, your duty is here. This is where you belong."

"This is another mansion? A different one?"

"Yes. It is the original one."

They continued to watch. Skuld yelled, "I hate you!" as she narrowly missed Keiichi's head with another swing of her red mallet.

"Belldandy, my sister-child, I envy you."

Belldandy finally turned around to face the person speaking to her. It was Anzus.

Belldandy asked the seraph a question. "The One sent me here, and He told me that this time it would be different. May I ask how?"

Anzus answered, "You will remain with Keiichi here. And instead of dying, you will live happily ever after with him. Eventually you will enter the Judgment Gate together, hand in hand."

"And will we pass?" Anzus was the gatekeeper.

Anzus smiled at her sister-daughter, "Yes."

"Then I am glad."

Anzus then explained. "In this mansion, Hild did not attempt to start Ragnarök. You did not die at her hand. Instead she is overthrown by Hagall in a coup."

"Overthrown?"

"Yes. And then Hagall will use Hrungnir to launch a campaign on Earth for demons to fulfill every human's most base and selfish wish, no matter how destructive to others. To stop this calamity, you, Keiichi, and your sisters will agree to help Hild regain her throne. And so Hild will devise a plan using Keiichi as a secret weapon that Hagall will not suspect. All of you will go into Hell, into Niflheim, and will face many challenges devised by Eihwaz. You will face Hrungnir, Thrymr and Halval, and defeat them all, but do so only by replacing Keiichi's original wish with a more powerful contract where you agree to join and unite with Keiichi on Earth. This triggers your latent seraph powers and Hagall is utterly defeated. Hild is grateful and never harms either of you ever again. You pass the Judgment Gate even as Tyr cheats to try to stop you from joining. Finally, you will marry in a ceremony witnessed by Urd, Skuld, Lind, Peorth, Hild, Marller, and Welsper. No mortals will be present.

Belldandy remained silent as she absorbed the information. "None of Keiichi's family will be at our wedding ceremony? None at all?"

"Sadly, no."

"Then what happens?"

"You live your life together. Keiichi insists on living on Earth, to be with his family and friends. You assent gladly, as Keiichi's happiness is your own. No children will issue from your union because you two are not biologically compatible - he has only three dimensions. He grows old while you remain forever young. Eventually he dies. You spend the next 8,000 years in mourning. Eventually you fade away, and all Valhalla mourns for its loss."

Belldandy looked down. "I am not sure that I like this future."

Anzus then spoke again. "Very well. I have another future for you."

"Which is?"

"Despite the fact that he had declined Tyr's offer previously, Keiichi changes his mind and accepts Tyr's offer of immortality. He becomes an L3 whirlwind elemental. You marry him at the temple with the same witnesses as before, but with Megumi, Keima, Takano, and all of Keiichi's other mortal friends all in attendance as well."

"This sounds better."

"I am not finished. Keiichi is at first very happy, but the honeymoon goes badly. It goes badly for the same reason it did in your first future. It is because you are forced to withhold your love for him, lest your powers ignite uncontrollably and you burn up the world, and him. And so on your wedding night you can give him only your shell, your body, but not yourself. Keiichi senses what you are doing, and he refuses. But you insist because you want him to be happy, and so you again offer your body to him, but again he refuses. You explain that sharing your body with him will make you happy, because you want nothing more than his own happiness, which is your happiness as well. And so he finally relents, telling himself that doing so will make you both happy. But just at the moment he takes your body, he sees the single unstoppable tear in your eye that reveals your true feelings of sadness, how you must always keep a barrier around your own feelings and remain forever apart from him, and he hates himself for it. It creates a permanent barrier between you and him. He is rarely physically intimate with you after that.

"Urd and Skuld are recalled to resume their duties in Valhalla. 20 years later you are forced to move away from the temple to hide your longevity, lest suspicions by the other humans be aroused. And so you move again every 20 or 30 years or so. Meanwhile everyone Keiichi ever cared about on Earth dies. He remains with you faithfully, even though you can never fully love him.

"And so you and he are alone. Meanwhile, you sense that Keiichi very much wants to have a family. You suspect that he wants children because unconsciously he wants someone who can love him back wholeheartedly, which you cannot. Being an elemental he is forever bound to the Earth, the same as his mother Takano. And so, after great difficulty and several miscarriages, you finally manage to produce a son for Keiichi, another whirlwind elemental. He bonds tightly with his son, but you remain distant. When he is of age he departs, and so you are again alone. Eventually you both fade away, having never fully loved each other."

Belldandy looked down at the bottom of her broom. "I think I like this future even less."

There was another commotion on the lawn. Skuld had finally caught up to Keiichi, and she swung her mallet at his head again. He ducked as it missed him.

Then he got up and ran some more. Skuld yelled, "Come back here you pervert! Stand still and let me give you what's coming to you!"

"But I didn't do anything! Honest!"

As Keiichi ran he spied Urd sitting on the roof watching them. "Urd! Save me!"

Urd laughed, "Me? Are you kidding? This is too much fun to watch."

"Gaaah!"

Anzus spoke again. "There is a third option. Keiichi recants his rejection of apotheosis and becomes a full Asgardian angel, an L2. He forsakes all his friends and family on Earth and lives with you in Valhalla..."

Belldandy raised her hand. "Stop. I can already guess the rest. Even if he was elevated to an L2, or even an L1, I could still never have shared myself with him, not fully. That is because if I ever expressed my real feelings to him I would still lose all my inhibitions and self-control, and then my fire as a seraph would still have seriously injured him and greatly damaged Asgard."

She looked down again. "And so we would still remain forever apart."

"Sadly, yes."

Anzus then spoke quietly again to Belldandy. "There is a fourth option."

She looked up. "A fourth choice?"

"Yes. Based on the experience of going through the Judgment Gate, you feel convicted for holding secrets from Keiichi, in particular the fact you could never be truly intimate with him. Although the secret was revealed to him before entering the gate - otherwise you would not have passed - you still feel ashamed for not telling him earlier. Partly it was because of your jealousy and your possessiveness of him, that you feared losing him if he found out. And so you think to yourself, 'I am not fit to be a goddess.'

"Tyr overhears your thoughts and asks you if you want to voluntarily relinquish your immortality and became human. You do, and he reluctantly agrees to your choice. Skuld and Urd are shocked and tearful when they find out, for they know their time with you will now be cut short. Keiichi is surprised as well and he begs you to change your mind, but you explain to him that it is too late, and that you did so out of your love for him. He takes your hand in marriage.

"After the marriage ceremony, where the human participants remark to each other how Belldandy's sisters must like to cry a lot at weddings, you joyfully ride away with Keiichi on his motorcycle for your honeymoon.

"And then, on your wedding night, you will love him unconditionally and completely, without holding anything back. You will love him with an emotional intensity that surprises both of you, as you make passionate love with your true mate, becoming one flesh, as you share all of your mind, body, and soul with your new husband.

"While it is true that your time together with him will be limited, it will be joyful beyond your imagination, with a joy that is magnified a hundredfold because of your knowledge that it will not last. And so the depth of your love for each other will grow beyond measure, as you share your innermost desires, thoughts, fears, and hopes with the love of your life. Keiichi will be at first somewhat surprised, then pleased to learn how complex you really are. You will spend many nights simply talking to each other until daybreak. And in doing so he will slowly grow to understand just who and what you really are, and how profound was the sacrifice that you made for him: the seraph who elected to become human. This will cause him to fall in love with you all that much more deeply, and you with him. It will be the kind of love between two mortals that few have seen on this Earth. But even then it will be the merest reflection of His own love for you and for everyone, a love that existed before the creation of the world, and the sacrifice that had He made as He gave His only Son because of it, as you give glory and honor and praise to the One who had made it."

Belldandy remained silent. She was gripping the broom handle tightly. Then she whispered, "Will I die before Keiichi?"

"No, he will die first, old and full of years, content and at peace. You will die very soon after. Then you will join him in the afterlife. Your time spent together on Earth will have prepared him to accept your intense blue fire without injury to him. And then, with your soulmate eternally by your side, you will resume your duty as a seraph in the True Heaven as you dance and whirl in honor and praise for the glory of the One who is called Love, who brought you together."

Belldandy now had tears on her face. They were tears of joy.

Anzus went on. "During your lifetime you will bear him many children, all mortal. And you will joyfully raise your family together. And eventually your children will bear your grandchildren, and they your great-grandchildren, the great House of Morisato. And that great family tree will grow almost beyond count, passing along to each generation a story, a legend, passed from parent to child, a fantastic and fanciful tale, the story of the man who fell in love with an angel."

Anzus then asked, "Well, my sister-daughter? What is your choice?"

Belldandy whispered under her breath, "You already know."

Anzus said, "Very well. When the time comes - after you defeat Hagall and you pass through the Judgment Gate - I will arrange to have your request granted. Your powers will be totally withdrawn. You will become completely mortal. You will be subject to illness, fatigue, age, and ultimately death."

"Yes. And I will make that request gladly, and without any reservation."

Anzus lovingly touched Belldandy's face. "Now you know why I envy you, my dear sister-daughter. I am happy for you. For both of you."

Keiichi yelled out, "Belldandy, please save me!"

Anzus nodded in his direction, "You heard him." Then she was gone.

Belldandy put down her broom and stood on the front step. She continued to watch the love of her life, the only finite being who would ever understand her, the only such being who would ever truly know her unfathomable mind and spirit.

She made another smile as the Song played in her head.

For she knew that one day he would hear that Song too.

And they would dance together before Him.

And so she stepped out onto the lawn.

And into Eternity.

**The End**


End file.
